I   I 


, 


Problems  and  Principles 
of  Correct  English 

Grammar,  Punctuation,  Rhetorical  Criticism 

Accompanied  by  "Dictionary  of  Errors" 
By  Sherwin  Cody 


The  text  " Grammar  and  Punctuation"  referred  to  in  these  Exercises 
will  be  found  reprinted  on  the  backs  of  lesson  leaves. 

Each  leaf  in  this  book  is  separate  and  complete  in  itself,  and  may  be 
torn  out  readily  if  the  teacher  desires. 


Published  at  Chicago 
By    the    School    of  English 

(Copyright,  1903. 1905, 1907, 1911. 1912  by  Sherwin  Cody) 


SUCCESS  IN  TEACHING  THE  CORRECT-  US 3  CF  ENGLISH 

There  comes  a  time  when  the  disciplinary  study  of  English  grammar  must  give  place 
to  an  effort  to  gain  practical  skill  in  writing  and  speaking  correctly.  A  different  system 
from  that  of  the  public  school  language  books  is  required — a  more  intense  drive  straight 
at  the  habitual  weaknesses  of  the  pupils.  That  is  the  object  of  this  exercise  book,  planned 
for  pupils  of  high  school  age. 

Constructive  Composition  More  Important  Than  Don'ts. — Few  bad  sentence  makers 
were  ever  cured  by  the  medicine  of  don'ts.  Positive  skill  (and  with  it  positive  accuracy) 
comes  from  vigorous  use  of  the  Franklin  and  Stevenson  method  of  reading  good  models 
and  practicing  unceasingly  on  imitating  them.  Such  practice  is  given  by  "Exercises  in 
Letter  Writing"  (facsimile  letters  to  be  answered)  arranged  to  accompany  the  book  "How 
to  Do  Business  by  Letter  and  Training  Course  in"  Conversational  English."  A  constructive 
interest  in  doing  business  makes  pupils  see  the  utility  of  correct  English,  and  the  teacher 
is  supplied  with  ample  material  for  continual  classwork  in  personal  detailed  criticism  and 
rewriting  of  poorly  formed  sentences.  Habitual  errors  must  be  hammered  on  persistently 
if  the  bad  habits  are  to  be  eradicated.  That  book  contains  as  much  formal  work  on  gram- 
mar as  experience  has  shown  it  is  possible  to  give  in  a  six  months'  course  without  slighting 
the  composition  work. 

Purpose  of  This  Book. — This  book  is  intended  to  supplement  "Exercises  in  Business 
Letter  Writing"  when  the  course  extends  beyond  six  months,  as  it  does  in  many  high 
schools,  and  to  supply  a  practical  high  school  or  college  review  course  in  correct  English 
to  accompany  the  advanced  book  "How  to  Do  Business  by  Letter  and  Advertising"  (Inter- 
national Edition)  and  the  "Literary  Composition  Drill  Book." 

Avoid  Unnecessary  Grammar  Machinery. — If  you  wish  to  secure  practical  correct- 
ness you  must  simplify  the  "machinery"  of  grammar  to  the  point  where  it  can  really  be 
used  in  everyday  practice.  If  pupils  spend  all  their  time  in  trying  to  memorize  rules  and 
definitions  they  will  have  no  mental  energy  left  to  apply  them. 

In  this  book  I  have  left  out  every  definition  or  rule  which  does  not  lead  directly  to  the 
correction  or  avoidance  of  some  error.  There  is  no  practical  utility  in  knowing  the  defini- 
tions of  the  different  kinds  of  sentences,  as  declarative,  interrogative,  exclamatory,  etc.,  as 
no  special  difficulty  is  possible  here;  and  in  English  there  is  no  such  thing  as  gender  in  the 
Latin  sense,  since  everybody  knows  that  female  reference  words  are  feminine  and  male  * 
reference  words  are  negative,  while  all  others  are  neuter.  Dr.  E.  Benj.  Andrews  says  of 
this  text  on  grammar,  "Your  notion  of  simplifying  grammar  is  worthy  of  the  widest  pub- 
licity. Your  treatment  is  crisp,  simple,  direct."  In  business  schools  and  high  schools  there 
is  no  place  for  books  on  grammar  with  a  full  panoply  of  rules  and  definitions.  Yet  this  . 
work  is  a  complete  treatise  on  grammar  for  practical  purposes,  covering  every  point  needed 
by  proofreaders  in  the  government  printing  office. 

Avoid  Finical  Distinctions. — There  is  a  considerable  number  of  writers  who  have 
tried  to  impose  on  modern  English  a  variety  of  finical  distinctions  and  discriminations 
which  do  not  exist.  There  are  illogical  idioms  in  the  English  language  which  do  not 
precisely  square  with  logical  derivations.  Many  words  have  gradually  acquired  an  extended 


308410 


meaning  s-whi<ffe  ktke^e  writers  pr<?<$mn,e  to  deprive  them  of.  We  are  told  that  "as  though" 
is  erroneous  for  "as  if,"  but  the  argument  is  fallacious  (See  "Grammar  and  Punctuation," 
page  86),  and  that  we  "answer"  a  question  or  a  letter  and  "reply"  to  an  argument,  but 
every  one  knows  that  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  words  "answer"  and  "reply"  are  used  inter- 
changeably to  avoid  awkward  repetitions  and  the  distinction  must  be  emphasized  by  the 
connection  if  anybody  is  to  understand  it.  There  are  so  many  obvious  crudities  in  the 
English  of  a  high  school  pupil  that  it  seems  a  foolish  waste  of  time  to  worry  in  class  work 
over  these  doubtful  distinctions.  Scarcely  a  list  of  Words  Often  Misused  can  be  found  that 
is  not  loaded  down  with  these  useless  and  frequently  erroneous  distinctions  made  by 
purist  reformers. 

The  English  Language  a  Natural  Growth. — If  the  French  is  a  strictly  scientific 
language,  the  English  is  obviously  a  natural  growth,  like  a  tree  in  the  forest.  There  are 
many  knots  and  crooked  branches,  but  we  would  not  exchange  them  for  a  forest  of 
geometrical  and  perfectly  balanced  trees. 

Many  of  us  also  forget  that  a  tree  and  a  language  grow  very  observably  every  year, 
and  books  written  one  hundred,  fifty,  or  even  twenty-five  years  ago  are  so  far  out  of  date 
that  they  cannot  be  used  as  guides  for  the  study  of  the  living  language  required  in  conver- 
sation and  letter  writing.  Works  of  literary  art  do  not  admit  words  that  have  not  been 
proved  by  time — unless  they  are  used  with  apologetic  quotation  marks.  But  we  actually 
sacrifice  our  living  effectiveness  if  we  reject  such  modern  technical  expressions  as  "letters 
that  pull,"  "hustle,"  "knock,"  "slump,"  and  even  "putting  him  next  to  the  game"  or  "getting 
down  to  brass  tacks."  Such  expressions  are  not  yet  old  enough  to  be  dignified;  but  in 
the  scramble  of  life,  dignity  may  often  be  a  handicap.  There  is  no  need  in  a  book  like 
this  to  warn  against  "young"  expressions  that  merely  lack  dignity.  Foolishly  weak  slang 
words  are  numerous  enough  to  occupy  the  teacher  fully. 

The  author  acknowledges  indebtedness  to  Bert  Leston  Taylor,  editor  of  the  humorous 
column  "A  Line-o'-Type  or  Two"  in  the  Chicago  Tribune,  for  amusing  examples  of  bad 
English  clipped  from  current  newspapers. 

A  new  "Normal  Course  on  How  to  Teach  Business  English"  will  be  sent  free  to 
teachers  only  who  write  to  the  author  at  1411  Security  Building,  Chicago. 

S  HER  WIN   CODY. 


LESSON  I.     Parts  of  Speeck. 


See  Grammar,  pages  19-21. 
What  is  a  noun? 


What  is  a  verb? 
What  is  a  pronoun? 

Every  verb  in  this  exercise  is  the  centre  of  a  group  of  words  called  a  sentence.  Taking 
the  verbs  one  after  the  other,  consider  what  other  words  belong  in  the  same  group.  Draw 
a  line  where  one  group  ends  and  another  begins  till  you  have  the  whole  divided  into  groups 
with  only  one  verb  in  each  group.  Then  rewrite,  beginning  each  group  or  sentence  with  a 
capital  letter  and  ending  it  with  a  period.  You  will  not  need  any  commas. 

Then  write  "n."  under  every  noun,  "v."  under  every  verb,  and  "pro."  under 
every  pronoun. — 

Once  upon  a  time  there  was  a  little  chimney-sweep  his  name  was  Tom  that 
is  a  short  name  you  have  heard  it  before  you  will  not  have  much  trouble 
in  remembering  it  he  lived  in  the  North  country  there  were  plenty  of  chimneys 
to  sweep  there  there  was  plenty  of  money  for  Tom  to  earn  his  master  spent 
it  he  could  not  read  he  could  not  write  he  did  not  care  to  do  either  he 
never  washed  himself  there  was  no  water  in  the  court  where  he  lived  he 
never  had  been  taught  to  say  his  prayers  he  never  had  heard  of  God  or 
Christ  he  cried  half  his  time  he  laughed  the  other  half  he  had  to  climb  dark 
flues  he  rubbed  his  poor  knees  and  elbows  raw  that  made  him  cry  the  soot 
got  into  his  eyes  every  day  in  the  week  his  master  beat  him  every  day  in 
the  week  not  a  day  in  the  week  did  he  have  enough  to  eat. 

Nouns  are  names  of  different  kinds  of  things,  such  as  persons,  places,  things,  and  gen- 
eral ideas.  What  are  the  following  nouns  the  names  of? — Henry,  boy,  Mexico,  land,  trees, 
remembering,  love,  kindness,  money,  mass,  thought,  Joliet,  George  Washington. 


How  many  boys  are  there  in  the  world?  How  many  George  Washingtons?  Notice 
that  the  name  of  one  person  or  place  is  written  with  a  capital  letter  or  letters,  while  other 
nouns  are  not  except  at  the  beginning  of  a  sentence. 


Grammar,  pp.  19-21.  Lesson  I. 

THE  PARTS  OF  SPEECH. 

Nouns.  In  the  first  paragraph  of  "Black  Beauty"*  let  us  pick  out  the  words  that 
stand  for  some  definite  object  we  can  think  of.  Such  words  are  meadow,  pond,  water,  trees; 
also  place,  day-time,  etc.  Say  nothing  but  the  word  pond,  for  instance,  and  you  have  in 
your  mind  a  clear  picture  of  something  real. 

In  the  sentences  in  this  passage  there  are  also  many  other  kinds  of  words,  such  as 
the,  remember,  about,  pleasant,  from.  But  none  of  these  words  means  anything  definite 
except  in  connection  with  other  words.  Pond  calls  up  the  idea  of  a  pond,  without  any  other 
words  with  it,  but  remember  means  nothing  unless  there  is  some  one  or  something  to 
remember,  and  something  that  is  remembered.  So  from  and  the  mean  nothing  except  in 
connection  with  other  words.  Even  pleasant  must  be  connected  with  some  other  word  in 
order  to  have  its  full  meaning,  as  "a  pleasant  day,"  "a  pleasant  thought,"  or  the  like. 

By  careful  consideration  you  will  see  that  every  word  depends  on  some  other  word, 
until  you  come  back  to  the  noun,  or  name-word,  which  is  complete  in  itself.  Each  word  in  a 
complete  sentence  has  a  fixed  logical  relationship  of  its  own.  The  study  of  these  logical 
relationships  is  the  basis  of  grammar.  The  starting  point  is  the  noun,  which  represents  a 
complete  idea  in  itself,  and  (with  the  words  connected  with  it)  gives  us  the  "subject"  (of  a 
sentence).  A  sentence  is  a  complete  chain  of  words,  representing  a  complete  thought. 

Verbs.  A  noun,  as  we  have  said,  means  something  apart  from  any  other  word 
connected  with  it.  But  when  we  say  boy,  many  tree,  John,  we  call  up  merely  a  simple  picture. 
If  we  wish  to  speak  of  the  boy  as  running,  the  man  as  walking,  the  tree  as  growing,  John 
as  speaking,  we  must  use  a  verh  When  we  say,  "The  boy  runs/'  "The  man  walks,"  "The 
tree  grows,"  "John  speaks,"  we  make  a  statement,  we  assert,  something  to  be  true.  The 
word  that  asserts,  such  as  runs,  walks,  or  speaks,  is  called  a  verb.  A  verb  also  expresses 
a  command,  as  when  we  say,  "Run,  John." 

In  participles  and  infinitives  the  assertive  quality  is  imperfect,  but  it  still  exists.  Old 
grammarians  defined  verbs  as  words  signifying  to  dc .  to  be,  or  to  suffer. 

As  we  shall  see  later,  a  verb  often  comprises  several  separate  words,  as  might  have 
done,  shall  have  been  done,  can  be  done,  is  being  done,  etc.  The  verb  and  the  words  con- 
nected with  it  are  called  the  "predicate." 

Pronouns.  There  are  a  number  of  small  words  which  take  the  place  of  nouns.  Thus 
when  I  speak  of  myself  I  do  not  call  myself  by  name  and  say,  "John  runs";  I  say  "I  run." 
If  I  have  once  mentioned  John's  name,  so  that  we  know  to  whom  he  refers,  we  say,  "He 
walks."  And  if  we  have  been  talking  about  the  meadow  we  may  say,  "//  is  full  of  water." 
These  words  /,  he,  it,  etc.,  are  called  pronouns  (Latin,  for  nouns}.  They  have  just  the  same 
relationships  as  nouns,  and  the  only  difficulty  in  the  use  of  them  comes  in  making  it  clear 
to  exactly  what  noun  each  pronoun  refers.  The  noun  to  which  a  pronoun  refers  is  called 
its  antecedent. 


*  "The  first  place  that  I  can  well  remember  was  a  large,  pleasant  meadow,  with  a  pond 
of  clear  water  in  it.  Some  shady  trees  leaned  over  it,  and  rushes  and  water-lilies  grew  at  the 
deep  end.  Over  the  hedge  on  one  side  we  looked  into  a  plowed  field,  and  on  the  other  we  looked 
over  a  gate  at  our  master's  house,  which  stood  hy  the  roadside.  At  the  top  of  the  meadow 
was  a  grove  of  fir-trees,  and  at  the  bottom  a  running  brook  overhung  by  a  steep  bank." — "Black 
Beauty,"  Chapter  I. 


LESSON  I  (Continued).     Forms  in  Letter  Writing. 

OBSERVE  THAT—  The  Heading  of  a  letter  must  show  clearly  the  address  from  which 
the  letter  is  written  and  the  date  of  writing,  including  month,  day  of  month,  and  year. 

The  Address  gives  the  name  and  residence  of  the  person  written  to. 
The  Salutation  is  the  complimentary  opening  form. 
The  Body  of  the  letter  contains  the  message. 

The  Close  is  the  complimentary  phrase  at  the  end  of  the  letter,  and  immediately  below 
this  is  the  signature. 

Mark  with  a  pencil  each  of  these  parts  as  found  in  the  letter  on  the  back  of  this  sheet, 
and  write  down  on  a  sheet  of  paper  a  complete  statement  as  to  the  place  and  position  of 
each  as  you  observe  them,  indentation  of  each  line  or  paragraph,  punctuation  of  each  part, 
and  relative  position  of  the  whole  letter  on  the  page.  Refer  to  "Dictionary  of  Errors," 
page  31,  or  "How  to  Do  Business  by  Letter,"  chapters  II,  III,  IV. 

Place  correctly  on  a  page  and  punctuate  correctly  the  various  parts  (except  the  body) 
of  the  letters  indicated  in  the  following.  Place  each  on  a  sheet  by  itself  with  great  care 
as  to  relative  position. 

1.  Hiram   Brindsley  writes   from   Huron,    State   of   Michigan,   to   James   Huneker,   at 
189  West  Madison  Street,  in  Chicago,  in  regard  to  the  purchase  of  a  watch. 

2.  Jordan,  Marsh  &  Co.,  of  630  Washington  Street,  in  the  City  of  Boston,  write  to 
Hiram  Brindsley  concerning  an  order  he  has  sent  them. 

3.  Thomas  J.  Appleby  writes  from  Number  3  in  South  End  Road,  town  of  Richmond, 
county  of  Middlesex,  country  of  England,  to  his  brother  John  Hamilton  Appleby,  at  Num- 
ber  1301  Eighth  Avenue,  in  the  City  of  New  York,   New  York  State,   United   States  of 
America. 

4.  Mrs.  Matilda  Carver  writes  from  the  University  of  Chicago  where  she  is  attending 
the  teachers'  college  to  her  husband  at  Harvard  University,  where  he  is  lecturing  in  the 
law  school.     Supply  missing  data. 

5.  Address  a  letter  to  yourself  from  some  one  you  know  in  a  large  city. 

6.  Address  a  letter  from  yourself  to  the  same  person  as  in  Exercise  5. 

7.  Address  a  letter  from  yourself  to  any  large  city  firm  you  know. 

8.  Address  a  letter  from  the  city  firm  indicated  in  Exercise  7  to  yourself. 

Check  over  this  work  to  make  sure  that  no  state,  town,  date,  title,  or  punctuation  mark 
is  missing. 


A  Business  Letter 

1411  Security  Bldg.  ,  Chicago, 
November  6,  1911. 

Mr.  Thomas  Jones, 

Grand  Haven,  Mich. 

Dear  Sir  : 

Immediately  on  receipt  of  your  letter  of  October  31 
I  started  a  tracer  after  the  package  of  "books  sent  you 
"by  American  Express  on  October  20   I  have  just  called 
up  the  express  office  and  am  told  that  the  books  have 
not  yet  been  found. 

Realizing  that  you  have  been  greattyinconvenienced 
by  the  delay  in  receiving  the  books  and  that  there  does 
not  seem  to  be  any  reasonable  prospect  that  they  will 
be  found  immediately,  I  have  ventured  to  duplicate  the 
order,  and  am  sending  another  package  by  express  to-day. 
You  should  receive  the  books  to-morrow  morning. 

Should  the  other  package  turn  up  at  any  time  in 
the  future,  please  aqk  the  express  comaany  to  return 
it  to  Lie  and  I  will  see  that  they  cancel  their  charges 
on  account  of  it.   In  the  mean  time  I  am  making  claim 
upon  them  for  the  value  of  the  lost  books,  and  if  they 
do  not  find  the  lost  package  they  will  no  doubt  in 
course  of  time  pay  for  them. 

Permit  me  to  assure  you  that  I  sympathize  pro* 
foundly  with  your  annoyance.   Neither  you  nor  I  could 
help  it.   The  books  were  shipped  promptly,  as  testified 
to  by  the  receipt  which  I  now  have  before  me.   I  have 
done  everything  possible  to  find  out  how  they  have 
gone  astray,  and  now  I  have  filled  the  order  a  second 
time  in  order  not  to  inconvenience  you  further. 


Very  truly  yours  , 


(Lesson  I,  page  4) 


LESSON  II.     Parts  of  Speech. 

See  Grammar,  pages  22-24. 
What  is  an  adjective? 

What  is  an  adverb? 
What  is  a  preposition? 
What  is  a  conjunction? 

What  are  the  principal  words  in  a  sentence? 

What  are  the  modifying  words,  whose  duty  is  to  change  in  one  way  or  another  the 
meaning  of  the  principal  words? 

What  two  kinds  of  connective  words  are  there  and  what  do  they  connect? 
What  is  a  phrase?    What  two  kinds  of  phrases  are  there? 

In  the  following  draw  a  line  around  every  phrase,  completely  enclosing  it,  writing 
"prep."  under  the  prepositions  and  "n."  under  the  nouns.  Then  write  "n."  under  all  the 
ether  nouns  and  "v."  under  the  verbs.  Next  pick  out  the  words  that  modify  the  nouns  and 
write  "adj."  under  them.  Then  find  the  words  that  modify  the  verbs  and  adjectives  and 
write  "adv."  under  them.  Finally  write  "c."  under  the  conjunctions.  Last  of  all  divide 
each  group  with  a  verb  in  it  from  the  next  group  and  rewrite  the  whole  correctly,  with  a 
capital  letter  at  the  beginning  of  every  sentence  and  a  period  at  the  end. — 

Tom  laughed  the  other  half  of  the  day  he  was  then  tossing  pennies  with 
the  other  boys  sometimes  he  was  playing  leap-  frog  over  the  posts  or  the  backs 
of  other  boys  he  liked  to  throw  stones  under  the  feet  of  horses  and  under 
wagons  it  seemed  to  him  excellent  fun  he  could  hide  behind  a  wall  he  did  n't 
mind  being  hungry,  even  very,  very  hungry  he  did  n't  mind  being  beaten  very, 
very  hard  all  boys  get  beaten  that  is  what  he  thought  his  old  donkey  got 
beaten  by  the  hail  but  the  donkey  stood  it  Tom  stood  it  too. 

What  is  the  difference  between  "its  and  "it's"?  Write  a  sentence  in  which  each  is 
used  correctly. 

What  is  the  full  form  of  "did  n't"?  Of  "won't?"  Of  "can't"?  What  does  the  apos- 
trophe denote? 

Among  the  following  nouns,  which  are  the  names  of  single  persons,  places,  or  things? 
Rewrite,  using  capitals  for  those  that  need  them :  Washington,  d.  c.,  mr.  and  mrs.,  henry 
burton,  sending,  joyf ulness,  south,  fly,  baseball,  bat,  garments,  jackets,  the  youth's  com- 
panion, the  u.  s.  government. 


Grammar,  pp.  22-24.  Lesson  II. 

Adjectives.  Then  there  are  words  which  are  usually  placed  before  nouns  to  describe 
them.  When  we  say,  "A  large  pleasant  meadow,"  a,  large,  and  pleasant,  are  descriptive  of 
the  noun  meadow.  They  are  called  adjectives.  When  we  say,  "The  boy  is  good,"  good 
is  an  adjective  also,  though  placed  after  the  verb,  because  it  expresses  a  quality  of  the  noun 
boy.  First,  last,  white,  blue,  fair,  sweet,  kind,  lovely,  hard,  bitter,  sour,  etc.,  are  all  words 
used  to  describe  nouns, — that  is,  adjectives,  though  under  some  circumstances  they  may  also 
be  other  parts  of  speech. 

Adverbs.  When  we  say,  "The  sun  shines  brightly,"  "The  man  strikes  hard,"  "I  am 
heartily  pleased  to  see  you,"  etc.,  brightly  modifies  shines,  hard  modifies  strikes,  heartily 
modifies  pleased,  telling  how  the  sun  shines,  how  the  man  strikes,  how  much  I  am  pleased 
to  see  you.  These  words  are  called  adverbs.  When  we  say,  "I  am  here,"  "Do  you  love 
me  now?"  "Speak  thus,"  the  words  here,  now  and  thus,  expressing  place,  time,  and  manner 
are  also  adverbs.  Again  when  we  say,  "He  speaks  very  plainly,"  "He  draws  extremely 
badly,"  not  only  plainly  and  badly  are  adverbs  modifying  verbs,  but  very  and  extremely 
are  also  adverbs,  though  they  modify  other  adverbs.  We  also  say,  "He  is  a  very  good  boy," 
"The  day  is  tediously  long,"  "The  rose  has  an  exquisitely  sweet  odor,"  in  which  very, 
tediously,,  and  exquisitely  are  adverbs  modifying  adjectives. 

Adverbs  are  words  which  modify  verbs,  adjectives,  or  other  adverbs. 

(NoxE. — There  are  many  words  placed  in  the  predicate  near  the  verb  which  are  not 
adverbs.  We  shall  find  later  that  these  may  be  "predicate  adjectives,"  "predicate  nouns," 
and  nouns  which  are  objects  of  verbs.) 

Prepositions.  There  are  also  various  small  words  which  introduce  nouns.  Thus 
we  have  such  phrases  as  "from  the  gate,"  "above  the  water,"  "into  the  sea,"  "by  means  of 
love,"  etc.  The  words  from,  above,  into,  by,  of,  used  to  introduce  the  nouns  which  follow 
them  and  connect  them  to  other  nouns  and  to  verbs,  etc.,  are  called  prepositions.  A  preposi- 
tion with  its  noun  is  called  a  phrase.  A  phrase  that  modifies  a  noun  just  as  an  adjective  does, 
is  called  an  adjective  phrase,  and  a  phrase  that  modifies  a  verb  just  like  an  adverb,  is  called 
an  adverbial  phrase. 

A  prepositional  phrase  (there  are  other  kinds  of  phrases)  may  have  any  or  all  the 
relationships  which  an  adjective  or  an  adverb  may  have. 

Such  phrases  as  "to  go,"  "to  be,"  "to  kill,"  etc.,  in  which  a  verb  follows  the  preposi- 
tion to,  are  called  the  "infinitive  mode  of  the  verb."  The  to  is  often  omitted  or  implied. 

Conjunctions.  A  word  that  joins  together  two  words  or  phrases  of  the  same  kind, 
or  joins  one  sentence  to  another  sentence,  is  called  a  conjunction.  Thus  in  the  sentence, 
"The  boy  and  the  man  came  here  together,  but  went  away  separately,"  and  is  a  conjunction 
joining  boy  and  man,  and  but  joins  the  two  verbs  came  and  went.  When  we  say,  "He  will 
do  it  if  I  will  let  him,"  if  is  a  conjunction  joining  the  subordinate  sentence  "I  will  let  him" 
to  the  main  sentence  "He  will  do  it."  In  the  complete  sentence,  "Where  I  go,  there  ye  shall 
be  also,"  where  is  a  conjunction  joining  the  subordinate  sentence  "I  go"  to  the  main  sentence 
"there  ye  shall  be  also."  In  this  case  where  is  also  an  adverb  of  place.  We  may  call  it 
either  an  "adverbial  conjunction"  or  a  "relative  adverb."  In  this  book  we  follow  the  com- 
mon usage  and  speak  of  it  as  a  "relative  adverb"  rather  than  as  a  conjunction.  While,  when, 
etc.,  are  also  used  in  the  same  way,  and  so  are  the  relative  pronouns  who,  which,  that,  e!c. 


LESSON  II  (Continued).    The  Correct  Salutation  and  Complimentary  Close. 

It  is  very  important  that  in  every  letter  the  salutation  and  the  complimentary  close 
should  be  so  selected  as  to  indicate  the  correct  tone  in  view  of  the  personal  relationship 
between  the  writer  of  a  letter  and  the  person  addressed. 

Refer  to  "Dictionary  of  Errors,"  especially  pages  34  and  40,  and  "How  to  Do  Business 
by  Letter,"  pages  11,  12,  15,  and  16,  and  page  148  et  seq.,  Chapter  XXII. 

Choose  the  right  salutation  and  complimentary  close  for  the  following  letters : 

1.  A  letter  to  a  business  firm  on  business. 

2.  A  letter  to  the  manager  of  a  business  firm  on  business. 

3.  A  letter  to  the  manager  of  a  business  firm  on  business  when  you  are  well  acquainted 
with  the  man. 

4.  A  letter  from  a  business  firm  to  a  strange  lady  on  business. 

5.  A  letter  from  a  business  firm  to  an  old  customer. 

6.  A  letter  from  the  principal  of  a  business  college  to  an  unknown  lady  who  wishes 
to  take  a  course  of  study. 

7.  A  letter  from  the  principal  of  a  school  to  a  girl  pupil  who  has  just  entered;  to  a 
girl  pupil  who  has  recently  graduated. 

8.  A  letter  to  the  pastor  of  a  church  to  which  one  belongs. 

9.  A  letter  to  the  member  of  Congress  from  your  district  whom  you  have  never  met. 

10.  A  letter  to  the  president  of  the  United  States. 

11.  A  letter  to  your  brother. 

12.  A  letter  to  your  mother. 

13.  A  letter  to  your  sister  or  brother. 

14.  A  letter  to  a  cousin  of  the  opposite  sex  whom  you  have  met  a  few  times. 

15.  A  letter  on  a  business  matter  to  a  schoolmate  of  the  opposite  sex  to  whom  you 
have  never  spoken. 

16.  A  letter  to  the  principal  of  your  school. 

17.  A  letter  to  this  same  principal  after  you  have  graduated  and  are  in  business. 

18.  A  letter  to  a  married  lady  for  whose  good  opinion  you  care  a  great  deal. 

19.  A  letter  to  a  prominent  man  whom  you  have  met  a  few  times. 

20.  A  letter  to  a  servant  just  coming  into  your  family. 


A  Social  letter 

J'The  Squirrel  a,  "• 

Bentham  Harbor,  Mich*, 

Nov.  6,  1919. 
Dear  Cousin  Alma,— 

Father  and  Mother  and  I  have  just  got  home  after  a 
pretty  restless  night  on  the  cars  for  all  except  me. 
They  say  I  slept  like  a  log  and  actually  snored. 

Though  I  have  three  strapping  brothers,  I  have 
never  had  a  sister;,  and  it  was  altogether  a  new  exper-* 
ience  for  me  to  be  entertained  ."by  a  young  lady  who 
seemed  to  think  she  was  under  the  obligation  of  rela- 
tionship to  be  very  attentive.'  I  am  not  used  to  being 
escorted  around  tov?n  and  introduced  to  all  the  charming 
young  ladies  in  a  large  circle  of  feminine  acquaintances; 
but  I  assure  you  I  shall  remember  the  past  week  all  my 
life  as  one  of  the  most  delightful  .of  my  existence. 

I  have  developed  my  three  roBs  of  film,  and  at 
least  half  the  exposures  came  out  in  fine  shape.  I 
shall  have  the  prints  made  at  Field's  and  send  you  one 
of  each  of  the  good  ones.  Your  portrait  could  n't  be 
beaten. 

On  the,  train  I  had  time  to  get  started  on  the  book 
you  gave  me.   It  puzzles  me  to  know  how  a  pretty  girl, 
as  popular  socially  as  you  are,  should  happen  to  be 
interested  in  philosophy  of  all  things.   Our  principal 
got  me  started  on  it,  and  I  would  rather  read  a  heavy 
philosophic  work  than  a  magazine  story  any  day.  Maga- 
zine stories  seem  to  me  stupid  in  comparison;  but  I 
always  thought  magazine  stories  were  written  for  girls 
like  you,  and  all  girls  liked  them.   To  find  a  girl 
who  likes  philosophy  as  much  as  I  do  seems  a  really 
wonderful  discovery. 


^    I  have  two  lessons  to  learn  for  to-morrow 
and  it  is  half  past.  eight.  Please  write  me  as  often 
as  you  can,  and  let  us  get  as  thoroughly  acquainted  by 
correspondence  as  cousins  should  be. 

Sincerely  yours, 

Miss  Alma  Redfield, 

1920  R  St.,  Lincoln,  Hebr. 


(Lesson  II,  page  4) 


Extra  lesson  and  review :     Write  out  Exercise  I,  Grammar,  page  25. 

LESSON  III.    The  Sentence. 

See  Grammar,  pages  25-27. 
What  is  a  sentence? 

What  is  the  subject  of  a  sentence? 
What  is  the  predicate  of  a  sentence? 

What  is  the  difference  between  a  simple  subject  or  predicate  and  a  complete  subject  01 
predicate? 

What  is  the  difference  between  a  compound  and  a  complex  sentence? 

What  is  a  simple  sentence? 

What  are  the  principal  subject  and  predicate? 

Note.  A  subordinate  sentence  with  its  subject  and  predicate  introduced  by  a  subordin- 
ate conjunction  will  hereafter  be  called  a  clause.  This  gives  us  three  different  groups  of 
words,  complete  sentences,  phrases,  and  clauses. 

In  the  following,  notice  that  every  sentence  group  begins  with  a  capital  and  ends  with 
a  period,  and  that  clauses  begin  with  conjunctive  words  and  are  often  set  off  by  commas. 
Phrases  always  begin  with  prepositions  but  are  usually  not  set  off  by  commas  because  they 
are  so  short.  Draw  a  single  line  under  all  clauses  and  a  double  line  under  all  phrases. 
Then  write  the  proper  abbreviation  under  each  word  showing  what  part  of  speech  it  is  and 
be  prepared  to  give  your  reason  for  your  marking : — 

Once  upon  a  time  there  was  a  little  chimney-sweep,  and  his  name  was  Tom. 
That  is  a  short  name,  and  you  have  heard  it  before,  so  you  will  not  have 
much  trouble  in  remembering  it.  He  lived  in  a  great  town  in  the  North 

country,  where  there  were  plenty  of  chimneys  to  sweep,  and  plenty  of  money 
for  Tom  to  earn  and  his  master  to  spend.  He  could  not  read  or  write,  and 
did  not  care  to  do  either ;  and  he  never  washed  himself,  for  there  was  no 
water  up  the  court  where  he  lived.  He  had  never  been  taught  to  say  his 
prayers.  He  never  had  heard  of  God,  or  of  Christ,  except  in  words  which  you 
have  never  heard,  and  which  it  would  have  been  well  if  he  had  never  heard. 
He  cried  half  his  time  and  laughed  the  other  half. 


Note.     Compare  this  with  preceding  exercises  and  notice  what  a  difference  it  makes  to 
have  clauses.     In  the  preceding  lessons  there  were  no  clauses. 


Grammar,  pp.  25-27.  .  Lesson  III. 

THE  SENTENCE. 

A  sentence  is  a  collection  of  words  so  chosen  and  arranged  as  completely  to  express 
a  thought.  Nouns  may  express  ideas,  but  they  do  not  represent  a  thought.  The  expression  of 
a  thought  absolutely  requires  a  verb  united  to  a  noun  (or  pronoun).  The  noun  constitutes  the 
simple  subject,  and  the  verb  the  simple  predicate  of  the  sentence.  Any  collection  of  words 
which  does  not  contain  both  a  subject  and  a  predicate,  expressed  or  implied,  does  not  consti- 
tute a  sentence  or  represent  a  thought.  (Fragmentary  phrases,  if  any  special  thought  is 
attached  to  them,  must  be  supposed  to  imply  the  lacking  members.)  The  simple  subject  and 
the  simple  predicate  may  have  modifiers,  and  together  with  these  modifiers  they  constitute 
the  complete  subject  and  the  complete  predicate. 

The  following  example  will  illustrate  the  fundamental  and  necessary  division  of  every 
sentence  into  subject  and  predicate: 

The    Subject  The  Predicate 

(noun)  (verb) 

The  country  church  is  a  square  old  building  of  wood. 

It  stands  upon  a  hill  with  a  little  churchyard  in 

its  rear  where 

one  or  two  sickly  trees  keep  watch  and  ward  over  the  vagrant  sheep 

that  graze  among  the 

graves. 

Bramble  bushes  seem  to  thrive  on  the  bodies  below, 

and 

there  is 
no  Hower  in  the  yard, 

save  a  few  golden-rods 

ivhich  flaunt  their  gaudy,  inodorous  color  under  the 

lee  of  the  northern  wall. 

Our  first  observation  upon  this  is  that  each  complete  sentence  seems  to  contain  more 
than  one  subject  and  predicate.  For  instance,  in  the  second  sentence  we  have  three  sub- 
jects and  three  predicates,  and  also  three  in  the  next  and  last.  We  also  observe,  however, 
that  each  subject  has  its  own  definite  predicate,  and  that  the  succeeding  sets  of  subjects  and 
predicates  are  connected  with  each  other  by  conjunctions. 

When  the  subjects  and  predicates  are  of  equal  importance,  and  are  connected  by  con- 
junctions capable  of  connecting  equals,  we  have  a  compound  sentence;  when  one  subject 
and  predicate  is  subordinate  to  another,  and  is  connected  to  it  by  a  conjunction  used  to 
show  subordinate  relationship,  we  have  a  complex  sentence. 

In  every  sentence  we  must  have  a  principal  subject  and  a  principal  predicate  to  which 
all  other  words  must  be  related. 


LESSON  III  (Continued).    How  to  Know  a  Sentence. 

One  of  the  most  difficult  things  to  learn  is  How  to  Know  a  Sentence  so  you  can  punc- 
tuate it  correctly.  Most  pupils  in  school  and  many  fairly  well  educated  persons  in  business, 
while  they  know  that  a  sentence  must  begin  with  a  capital  letter  and  end  with  a  period, 
exclamation  point,  or  mark  of  interrogation,  are  unable  to  see  the  difference  between  the 
parts  of  one  sentence  and  the  parts  of  the  next  one  to  it. 

The  trouble  is  that  the  meaning  of  one  sentence  is  often  very  closely  linked  with  the 
meaning  of  another,  and  it  seems  as  if  words,  phrases,  and  clauses  so  closely  united  in 
meaning  ought  to  be  punctuated  together. 

While  we  may  group  together  by  commas  words  that  seem  closely  united  in  meaning, 
and  commas  are  largely  for  the  purpose  of  grouping  words,  the  sentence  is  on  a  strictly 
grammatical  basis.  There  is  just  one  way  to  know  it  when  you  come  to  it.  It  must  have 
a  noun  or  pronoun  as  subject  and  a  verb  as  predicate.  If  it  hasn't  these  in  clear  form, 
it  can't  be  a  sentence  but  must  be  only  a  phrase  or  group  of  words  belonging  to  some 
other  sentence. 

If  there  is  at  least  one  subject  and  one  verb  which  is  a  full  and  regular  verb,  you 
know  that  you  have  at  least  one  good  sentence.  But  you  may  have  two  or  more,  and  it  is 
just  as  bad  to  run  two  sentences  together  as  to  punctuate  a  phrase  or  clause  as  a  sentence. 

One  sentence  can  have  just  one  subject  and  one  full  verb  unless  other  subjects  and 
verbs  are  linked  to  thes'e  by  co-ordinate  conjunctions  like  and,  or,  or  but,  or  there  are 
subordinate  clauses  or  sentences  introduced  by  subordinating  conjunctions  or  relative  words 
of  some  kind  like  if,  when,  who,  or  the  like.  Just  the  moment  you  run  upon  a  second 
subject  or  a  second  predicate  not  accounted  for  by  a  conjunction  which  you  can  see  and 
recognize,  you  have  a  second  sentence  mixed  in  with  the  first  and  you  need  to  separate 
the  two  by  a  period  or  semicolon.  You  want  to  remember  also  that  then  is  NOT  a  relative 
word  like  when,  and  is  not  a  proper  word  to  introduce  a  subordinate  clause.  In  other 
cases  the  relative  word  that  is  implied  so  clearly  that  it  may  be  regarded  as  actually  in 
the  sentence  and  fully  able  to  govern  a  subordinate  subject  and  predicate,  as  in  "I  know 
very  well  you  have  prepared  your  lesson." 

The  following  is  a  letter  written  by  a  young  lady  traveling  abroad  and  published  in 
her  home  paper.  It  contains  many  crudities  of  expression,  and  especially  a  number  of 
examples  of  sentences  run  together  with  only  a  comma  between.  She  was  misled  by  the 
close  logical  connection  between  the  sentences,  and  was  ignorant  that  there  was  no  gram- 
matical connection  which  would  justify  running  them  together. 

Find  the  errors  of  punctuation  and  correct  them.  They  are  not  marked.  Other 
crudities  are  marked  by  reference  numbers. 

A  SENTIMENTAL  JOURNEY. 

The  next  day  we  saw  London  bridge,  it  is  a  broad  bridge  or  street,  and  is  certainly  not 
falling  down.  I  think  if  it  was  (1)  in  any  danger  (2)  to  fall  it  would  have  fallen  when 
such  a  crowd  of  Americans  went  over  in  all  their  glory.  Not  far  up  the  river  from  the 
London  bridge  is  the  Tower  bridge.  This  is  very  much  like  the  other  except  (3)  it  has 
towers  at  each  end.  These  are  large  indeed  and  connected  by  a  passage  way  (4)  overhead. 
Next,  I  think  we  saw  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  the  largest  Protestant  church  in  the  world, 
it  is  not  completed  yet.  The  decorations  were  of  gold  and  very  artistic.  Our  guide  was  at 
one  time  a  member  of  the  choir  here.  There  were  two  chapels,  an  old  and  a  new  one. 
There  are  1,500  churches  in  London  and  570  newspapers,  its  area  is  122  square  miles.  You 
know  this  is  the  largest,  greatest,  and  richest  city  of  modern  times.  It  is  impossible  to 
tell  of  its  wonders,  sights,  and  attractions,  in  its  shops  are  goods  of  the  whole  world  (5) 
because  commerce  from  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe  comes  to  its  docks. 

(OVER) 


We  saw  (6)  Tower  of  London.  Every  one  knows  the  history  of  this  place.  Here 
has  (7)  been  kept  some  of  the  greatest  kings  and  nobles.  The  dungeons  are  still  open  to 
visitors.  In  the  Tower  we  saw  the  Crown  jewels  that  were  used  in  the  recent  Corona- 
tion (8).  The  Armory  (9)  was  very  interesting.  There  we  saw  the  (11)  breast  plates,  (10) 
helmets,  shields,  spurs,  etc.,  that  dated  as  far  back  as  the  Norman  Conquest.  During  the 
Thirteenth  century  the  Chain  Mail  (12)  was  used.  The  armor  is  all  displayed  on  horses 
and  figures  of  wood.  Some  represented  Charles  I,  Edward  I.,  Richard  I.,  and  all  the  early 
crusaders  (13).  Out  in  the  courtyard  was  a  smooth  stone  where  it  is  said  Katherine 
Howard,  Lady  Jane  Grey,  and  others  in  English  history  met  their  death  by  the  ax.  We 
also  saw  the  Beauchamp  tower.  All  this  brings  back  what  we  studied  in  English  and 
French  history. 

Examples  of  two  sentences  run  together  with  only  a  comma  between  have  not  been 
marked.  Students  are  asked  to  find  these. 

1.  This  is  a  supposed  case,  contrary  to  fact,  and  requires  the  subjunctive  mode  "if  it 
were"  instead  of  "if  it  was."  2.  "Danger"  requires  "of  falling"  in  place  of  "to  fall"  after 
it.  3.  "Except"  alone  is  a  preposition.  The  conjunction  here  should  be  "except  that." 
4.  "Passageway"  should  not  be  written  as  two  words.  5.  A  comma  is  required  here, 
because  the  explanatory  clause  beginning  with  "because"  is  added  merely  as  additional 
information.  6.  Insert  the  word  "the"  before  "Tower."  Be  sure  that  all  the  little  words 
required  for  a  smoothly  flowing  sentence  are  included.  7.  The  subject  of  this  verb  follows 
as  the  plural  pronoun  "some,"  and  of  course  the  verb  should  be  "have,"  not  "has."  "Tower" 
is  capitalized  because  it  is  used  as  the  name  of  a  special  building,  and  perhaps  the  writer  is 
justified  in  capitalizing  "Crown,"  but  "coronation"  is  very  plainly  a  simple  common  noun 
and  should  not  be  capitalized.  9.  "Armory"  should  not  be  capitalized.  10.  "Breastplates" 
is  one  word.  11.  When  the  reader  reaches  this  point  he  begins  to  wonder  why  "the"  was 
used  before  "breastplates,"  as  if  to  designate  some  particular  breastplates.  The  sentence 
seems  to  indicate  that  all  the  breastplates  in  the  world  that  dated  back  as  far  as  the  Norman 
conquest  were  there  instead  of  "some  breastplates"  or  simpry  "breastplates."  Omit  "the." 
12.  There  is  no  reason  for  capitalizing  "chain  mail."  13.  "And  all  the  early  crusaders" 
implies  that  those  mentioned  by  name  were  crusaders,  but  this  is  not  true.  It  is  important 
to  look  sharply  out  to  see  what  the  word  "all"  implies. 

Rewrite  this  letter  in  correct  form. 


(Lesson  III,  page  4) 


Extra  lesson  and  review:     Write  out  Exercise  II,  Grammar/ page  31. 

•       LESSON  IV.     Relationship  of  Words  in  a  Sentence. 

See  Grammar,  pages  27-31. 

What  is  the  law  governing  the  expression  of  meaning  in  words? 

What  is  the  law  governing  the  relationship  of  every  word  in  a  sentence? 
What  is  an  interjection?    What  relationship  does  it  have  in  a  sentence? 
In  analysing  a  sentence,  what  is  the  first  thing  to  look  for? 

Diagram  the  following  sentences,  using  the  space  below : 

It  was  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  steep  and  rocky  mountains. 

Things  went  on  in  this  manner  for  a  long  time. 

They  had  hardly  got  the  hay  in  when  the  haystacks  were  floated  down  to  the  sea. 

They  got  what  tfiey  liked  from  all  except  the  poor  people,  who  could  only  beg. 

He  put  his  head  out  to  see  to  whom  the  coat  belonged. 

The  boy  who  studies  grammar  must  learn  to  analyse. 

When  I  looked  up  I  was  satisfied. 

There  was  no  bread  in  the  house. 


Grammar,  pp.  27-31.  Lesson  IV. 

In  analyzing  any  sentence,  our  first  task  should  be  to  find  the  principal  subject  and  the 
principal  predicate,  and  then  trace  out  the  chain  of  relationships  of  every  other  word  to  these. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  make  a  picture,  or  diagram*,  of  these  relationships,  which  will  present  the 
whole  matter  to  the  eye  at  a  glance.  We  begin  by  drawing  a  straight  line  and  dividing  it 
distinctly  in  the  middle,  and  then  placing  the  subject  noun  or  pronoun  on  the  left  and  the 
predicate  verb  on  the  right,  thus : 

Boys      ||     Tun 

If  we  have  any  adjectives  or  adverbs,  we  may  place  them  on  splanting  lines  attached 
to  the  lines  on  which  stand  the  words  they  modify,  thus  (Fig.  2)  . 

We         II          lived 


boy 


I 


runs 


Fier.  2.  Fig-.  3? 

In  this  sentence  a  and  healthy  are  adjectives  modifying  boy,  the  first  very  is  an  adverb 
modifying  the  adjective  healthy,  swiftly,  is  an  adverb  modifying  runs,  and  the  second  very  an 
adverb  modifying  swiftly. 

Phrases  introduced  by  prepositions  may  be  treated  as  in  Fig.  3. 

Subordinate  sentences  introduced  by  relative  adverbs  (or  adverbial  conjunctions)  may 
be  diagramed  as  in  Fig.  4. 

But  subordinate  sentences  introduced  by  relative  pronouns  which  have  a  necessary 
office  in  the  subordinate  sentence  must  be  connected  to  the  main  sentence  by  a  blank  or  dotted 
line,  as  in  Fig.  5  and  Fig.  6, 

We         (j          care 


It 


||        does 


matter 


He       ||        must  pay 


we 


go 


\  who 


buys 


Fig-.  4.  Fig.  6  and  Fig.  5. 

There  are  many  other  relationships  besides  those  we  have  pictured;  but  these  will  il- 
lustrate the  two  most  important  laws  in  grammar,  namely: 

Law  I.  No  collection  of  words  expresses  thought,  and  no  sentence  exists,  unless  a 
noun  or  pronoun  (expressed  or  implied)  unites  with  a  verb  (expressed  or  implied)  to  form  a 
subject  and  a  predicate. 

Law  II.  Every  word  in  a  sentence  must  have  a  clear  relationship,  directly  or 
through  other  words,  to  the  principal  simple  subject  or  the  principal  simple  predicate,  that  is, 
to  the  main  noun  or  pronoun,  or  to  the  main  verb. 

The  only  apparent  exception  to  the  last  statement  is  the  interjection,  which  is  a 
word  that  is  as  nearly  independent  as  a  word  can  be.  Close  logical  analysis,  however,  will 
show,  either  that  the  interjection  is  in  some  way  related  to  an  adjoining  sentence  without 
which  it  would  be  devoid  of  meaning  or  significance ;  or  it  is  a  condensed  sentence  in  itself, 
distinctly  implying  a  subject  or  a  predicate  or  both.  For  instance,  if  we  go  about  shouting 
"Fire!  Fire^!  Fire!"  we  are  simply  condensing  into  a  word  some  such  full  sentence  as  "There 
is  a  fire,"  "Come  and  see  the  fire,"  or  "Come  and  put  out  the  fire."  Implied  words  are 
frequent  and  must  always  be  supplied  if  we  would  understand  grammatical  relationships. 

*  The  diagram  is  liable  to  abuse,  just  as  parsing  is,  but  it  helps  us  to  comprehend  that 
every  word  has  a  fixed  relationship  in  the  sentence.  For  a  full  exposition  of  the  diagram  see 
Reed  and  Kellogg's  "Higher  Lessons  in  English." 


LESSON  IV  (Continued).    How  to  Criticise  a  Letter. 

In  the  world  of  life  and  business  you  must  correct  your  own  work,  and  I  propose  to 
teach  you  how  to  correct  your  work  yourself.  In  business  you  must  be  100  per  cent  correct 
most  of  the  time.  An  average  of  90  per  cent  will  never  pass  in  any  business  office. 

Success  in  self-criticism  depends  on  having  a  regular  system  so  that  you  know  just 
what  you  need  to  look  for,  you  look  for  that  particular  thing,  and  then  you  make  yourself 
sure  whether  you  have  it  or  not,  and  have  it  right.  You  can  criticise  your  own  work  or 
the  work  of  other  pupils  just  as  well  as  the  teacher  can  in  many  cases  if  you  will  follow 
rigidly  the  system  I  am  about  to  give  you.  I  do  not  mean,  however,  that  you  should  not 
deviate  from  my  system.  My  system  is  but  an  illustration,  a  beginning,  and  you  must 
extend  and  perfect  this  system  according  to  the  special  needs  you  find  in  actual  work. 
Actual  work  in  real  life  always  has  problems  of  its  own  which  you  must  solve,  and  then 
you  must  conform  to  your  own  solution.  When  you  have  your  system  right  you  must 
conform  to  it  rigidly,  however,  admitting  nothing  less  than  100  per  cent  of  correctness. 

THE  FORM  OF  YOUR  LETTER. 

Examine  your  letter  carefully  and  answer  for  yourself  the  following  questions,  deduct- 
ing 5  per  cent  for  any  deviation : 

Have  you  written  the  heading  of  this  letter  in  two  lines  (or  one  line,  as  the  case  may 
be)?  Does  it  begin  to  the  left  of  the  center  of  the  page?  (Measure  with  your  ruler  if 
you  are  in  doubt.) 

Is  there  a  comma  after  the  town,  a  period  and  a  comma  after  an  abbreviated  state,  no 
comma  after  the  month  (what  abbreviation?)  but  a  Comma  after  the  day  of  the  month, 
and  a  period  after  the  year  (written  in  full?)? 

Have  you  a  margin  of  at  least  three  quarters  of  an  inch  on  the  left  and  one  quarter 
of  an  inch  beyond  the  longest  line  on  the  right?  (Measure  with  your  ruler.) 

Does  the  name  and  address  of  the  person  you  are  writing  to  appear  at  least  an  inch 
below  the  date  line  and  two  inches  below  the  top  of  the  paper?  (Make  the  sinking  cor- 
respond to  the  actual  requirements  of  the  given  letter  for  a  good  appearance  on  the  page.) 
Have  you  "Mr."  before  the  name  and  no  other  title  after  it?  Is  it  followed  by  a  comma? 
Have  you  the  correct  address  following  the  name,  indented  at  least  three  quarters  of  an 
inch  more  than  the  name,  which  should  be  flush  with  the  margin,  and  with  a  period  after 
the  address  even  if  the  state  or  country  is  not  abbreviated? 

Have  you  the  correct  salutation  (Dear  Sir,  Dear  Madam),  starting  flush  with  the 
margin,  and  followed  by  a  colon  only? 

Does  the  body  of  the  letter  begin  on  the  line  below  the  salutation  as  a  paragraph, 
indented  three  quarters  of  an  inch  from  the  margin?  Are  all  the  other  paragraphs 
uniformly  indented  three  quarters  of  an  inch,  and  not  over  an  inch? 

Does  the  complimentary  close  start  a  little  to  the  left  of  the  middle  of  the  page,  begin 
with  a  capital  letter,  have  no  other  capital  in  it,  and  end  with  a  period?  Is  the  signature 
placed  below,  a  little  to  the  right  of  the  middle  of  the  page,  and  followed  by  a  period? 

(Any  particular  letter  may  have  other  special  questions  which  the  pupils  should  answer 
for  themselves,  deducting  5  per  cent  for  every  failure  to  get  the  right  arrangement.) 

WHAT  YOU  SAY  IN  YOUR  LETTER. 

The  first  thing  to  see  in  any  business  letter  is  whether  it  gives  all  the  business  facts 
required,  and  gives  them  fully  and  correctly.  If  you  are  answering  another  letter,  first  stop 
to  set  down  a  list  of  the  different  things  you  must  say -to  make  the  answer  to  that  letter 
fully  satisfactory  to  the  person  who  is  to  receive  it.  Don't  make  this  list  of  facts  in  general 
terms,  but  mike  a  list  of  the  real  answers,  and  think  carefully  whether  you  have  covered 
every  point  without  missing  even  the  smallest.  For  example,  suppose  one  of  your  mates 
writes  to  ask  you  to  make  an  appointment  to  meet  him  down  town  and  go  to  buy  a  present 


for  the  teacher.  In  answering  such  a  letter  you  must  be  sure  to  cover  each  of  the  following 
points  clearly  and  exactly:  1.  Say  definitely  whether  you  will  go  or  won't  go.  Many 
people  forget  to  make  a  specific  answer  to  the  most  important  point  of  all.  2.  Say  just 
when  the  rendezvous  shall  take  place— the  day  of  the  week,  the  day  of  the  month,  the  hour, 
and  whether  a.  m.  or  p.  m.  3.  Say  just  where  it  shall  take  place,  at  what  store,  at  what 
door  of  that  store,  on  what  street,  near  what  other  street.  Unless  you  make  a  list  of 
these  business  facts  required  in  a  complete  and  really  effective  business  letter,  you  are 
certain  to  miss  some  of  them.  Let  the  teacher,  assisted  by  the  class,  write  on  the  board 
the  facts  to  be  covered  in  each  letter,  as  Business  Fact  No.  1,  Business  Fact  No.  2,  etc.,  and 
then  let  each  pupil  examine  his  work  to  make  sure  he  has  really  and  fully  covered  each 
one  of  those  facts. 

PUNCTUATION. 

First,  look  through  your  letters  and  write  a  small  s  under  each  simple  subject  and  a 
small  p  under  each  simple  predicate  or  verb.  This  includes  the  subjects  and  predicates  of 
subordinate  clauses  as  well  as  principal  clauses.  Now  do  you  find  any  group  of  words  not 
directly  connected  to  a  subject  or  predicate?  If  so,  take  off  10  per  cent  for  that  error,  and 
try  to  find  out  how  to  connect  that  group  of  words  in  its  proper  place  in  a  sentence. 

Next  place  a  small  circle  around  the  .s  and  the  p  of  principal  clauses,  and  be  sure  that 
none  of  those  clauses  is  introduced  by  any  relative  word  such  as  who,  what,  when,  if,  or 
the  like.  Where  no  circle  appears  you  should  find  a  subordinate  clause,  and  that  must 
be  introduced  by  some  relative  word:  find  and  underscore  the  relative  word.  The  two 
parts  of  a  compound  sentence  must  be  connected  by  a  co-ordinate  conjunction  such  as 
and,  but,  or  or:  place  a  small  check  under  each  co-ordinate  conjunction. 

Now  consider  what  groups  of  words  begin  with  a  capital  letter  and  end  with  a  period, 
exclamation  point,  or  question  mark;  between  the  capital  letter  and  the  period  or  other 
mark  do  you  find  more  than  one  subject  and  predicate?  If  so,  is  the  second  one  justified 
by  a  co-ordinate  conjunction?  Or  is  the  second  subject  and  predicate  in  a  subordinate  clause 
and  justified  by  a  relative  word  of  some  kind?  If  you  find  a  capital  letter  followed  by  a 
period  and  no  subject  and  predicate  between,  you  have  no  sentence,  and  should  take  off 
10  per  cent  for  the  error.  If  you  find  more  than  one  subject  and  predicate  between  the 
capital  and  the  period,  not  justified  by  some  conjunction  clearly  marked,  you  have  run  two 
sentences  together  without  proper  separation,  and  should  take  off  10  per  cent  for  the  error. 
If  you  think  the  conjunction  in  any  situation  is  clearly  implied,  ask  the  teacher  about  it. 
Are  there  any  questions  not  followed  by  interrogation  points? 

Next  consider  the  commas.  Do  you  find  any  words  or  phrases  thrown  into  the  sentence 
by  way  of  explanation?  Are  they  set  off  by  commas? 

Read  over  to  yourself  any  sentences  in  which  you  find  relative  clauses:  are  these 
clauses  likely  to  get  mixed  up  with  the  principal  clause  if  not  set  off  by  a  comma  or  commas? 
What  punctuation  marks  have  you  before  and,  but,  or  or?  Do  you  need  commas  because 
the  subject  of  the  second  clause  is  different  from  the  subject  of  the  first  clause? 

Next  consider  if  you  have  commas  you  do  not  need ;  read  over  each  sentence  containing 
a  comma  and  see  if  there  would  be  any  confusion  should  the  comma  be  omitted.  If  you 
can  understand  the  meaning  just  as  well  without  the  comma,  and  do  not  know  any  good 
reason  why  the  comma  should  be  there,  omit  it.  Deduct  5  per  cent  for  each  comma  that 
has. been  omitted  and  5  per  cent  for  each  unnecessary  comma  inserted.  The  elimination 
of  superfluous  commas  is  just  as  important  as  the  insertion  of  any  that  may  be  missing. 

Note. — The  preceeding  program  may  be  torn  out  of  this  book  and  pinned  into  "Exer- 
cises in  Business  Letter  Writing"  that  pupils  may  examine  their  letters  before  they  bring 
them  to  the  class  to  be  sure  they  are  correct  on  all  these  points ;  and  then  in  the  class  they 
will  re-examine  the  letters  to  be  sure  they  have  overlooked  nothing.  Full  information  on 
the  points  raised  will  be  found  in  "How  to  Do  Business  by  Letter."  Or  the  system  may 
be  used  in  connection  with  any  method  of  practice  letter  writing. 

(Lesson  IV,  page  4) 


LESSON  V.     Case. 

See  Grammar,  pages  31-33. 
What  is  an  abstract  noun? 

What  verbal  forms  are  used  as  nouns? 

What  place  do  nouns  fill  in  a  sentence  besides  that  of  subject  of  a  verb? 

What  two  parts  of  speech  take  nouns  as  objects? 

Do  all  verbs  have  objects? 

Do  all  prepositions  have  objects?     Name  any  which  do  not? 

In  what  case  are  subject  nouns? 

In  what  case  are  object  nouns? 

Is  there  any  difference  between  a  noun  in  the  nominative  case  and  one  in  the  objective 
case?     What  difference  in  pronouns? 

Are  all  verbs  followed  by  the  objective  case?    What  are  not? 

Write  below  the  objective  form  of  the  following  pronouns:  we,  they,  he,  us,  she,  I,  who, 
her. 

Make  a  list  below  of  the  verbs  that  are  commonly  followed  by  the  nominative  case? 

Write  out  the  following  sentences  with  the  correct  pronoun : 
To   (who — whom)  did  you  refer? 

The  power  of  prophecy  is  given  only  to  (he— him)   (who— whom)  can  preach  the  good 

news. 

He  said  he  would  give  it  to  (her — she)    (who — whom)  picked  the  most  peas. 

It  is  only  fair  to  give  it  to  you  and  (I — me). 

Between  Jack  and  John  and  Henry  and   (I — me),  we  got  a  good  day's  work  done. 

It  seems  to  be  (he — him)  who  will  be  chosen. 

The  speech  will  be  made  by  (he — him)  who  is  chosen. 

(Whom — who)    do  you  choose? 

(Who— whom)  do  you  think  it  is? 

Let  you  and  (me — I)  go  to  the  postoffice. 

(Whom — who)    will  the  paper  be  read  by? 


Grammar,  pp.  31-33.  Lesson  V, 

Nouns,  we  have  learned,  are  the  names  of  things.  An  idea,  a  thought,  an  act  may 
also  have  a  name,  which  is  a  noun  (called  abstract).  Several  forms  of  the  verb  and  verbal 
phrases  are  also  used  as  nouns,  as  in  "Doing  is  better  than  waiting,"  "To  be  cautious  is  a 
necessity  in  speculation,"  and  "Growing  old  should  not  make  a  man  sour." 

We  have  seen  nouns  as  subjects  of  verbs,  the  starting-points  of  sentences.  They  may 
also  be  objects  of  verbs  or  prepositions.  A  preposition  must  have  a  noun  as  object,  since  the 
sole  office  of  prepositions  is  to  introduce  nouns,  or  pronouns.  Unless  a  word  has  such  an 
object,  it  is  not  a  preposition.  Active  verbs  also  take  a  noun  as  object  when  they  are  of  such 
a  nature  that  they  express  action  which  passes  over-  to  an  object.  Thus  when  we  say  "He 
killed  a  man,"  the  word  man  is  an  object  noun,  since  the  action  of  the  subject  as  expressed 
in  the  verb  passes  over  and  takes  effect  on  the  object  man. 

Subject  nouns  are  said  to  be  in  the  subjective  or  nominative  case,  and  object  nouns 
are  said  to  be  in  the  objective  case. 

Not  all  nouns  that  follow  verbs  are  in  the  objective  case.  All  nouns  following  the 
verb  to  be  or  its  parts  (am,  is,  are,  was,  were,  would  be,  have  been,  might  be}  are  in  the 
subjective  or  nominative  case,  and  are  called  predicate  nominatives,  because  the  verb  to  be 
merely  asserts  that  the  subject  is  the  same  as  the  noun  in  the  predicate.  Thus  in  "John  is 
a  man,"  man  is  precisely  the  same  as  the  subject  and  the  verb  is  merely  asserts  this 
sameness.  So  also  in  the  sentence  "John  will  become  a  man,"  man  and  John  are  equivalent, 
or  are  in  the  process  of  becoming  so.  There  is  no  action  which  passes  over  to  an  object.  Of 
course  in  the  sentence,  "He  killed  himself,"  he  and  himself  are  the  same,  but  in  this 
case  the  man  is  the  object  of  his  own  act. 

Nouns  in  English  have  the  same  form,  whether  they  are  in  the  nominative  or  in 
the  objective  case.  But  pronouns,  the  words  which  stand  for  nouns  and  are  used  so  very 
frequently,  have  in  many  cases  different  forms  for  the  nominative  and  objective  cases,  as 
follows : 

Nominative  Objective 

I  me 

we  us 

he  him 

she  her 

they  them 

who  whom 

Therefore  we  should  always  say  "It  is  I,"  not  "It  is  me,"  "It  is  he,  she,  they,  or  we," 
not  "It  is  him,  her,  them,  or  us,"  as  we  often  hear  people  say.  Also,  remembering  that 
the  object  of  a  preposition  is  always  in  the  objective  case,  we  will  say  "between  you  and  me," 
not  "between  you  and  I,"  "It  can  be  done  by  you  and  me,"  not  "It  can  be  done  by  you  and 
I."  We  would  not  say  "between  I  and  the  fence-post,"  nor  "It  is  being  done  by  I  and 
somebody  else."  These  sound  absurd.  It  is  quite  as  absurd  to  say  "between  you  or 
the  fence-post  and  I." 

The  verbs  followed  by  the  nominative  case  are  very  few,  but  they  are  so  common 
that  they  occur  as  often,  probably,  as  all  other  verbs  put  together.  They  are  chiefly  to 
be  (is,  am,  was,  were,  would  be,  have  been,  etc.),  to  become,  to  appear,  and  to  seem. 
There  is  no  action  expressed  by  these  verbs,  only  a  state  or  condition  of  existence. 


LESSON  V  (Continued).    How  to  Criticise  the  Language  of  Letters. 

When  the  Form  of  the  letter,  the  Facts  to  be  stated,  and  the  Punctuation  have  been 
considered,  the  three  great  essentials  of  correctness  have  been  properly  covered.  There 
remains,  however,  the  difficult  matter  of  finding  the  Best  Possible  Wording. 

You  have  been  studying  the  use  of  words  to  express  your  meaning  since  you  were  a 
baby,  and  you  have  endless  practice  every  day  in  expressing  your  meaning  when  you  talk 
to  those  about  you.  If  you  can  express  yourself  as  well  in  writing  as  you  do  in  talking, 
and  know  that  you  are  doing  that,  you  are  all  right  as  far  as  writing  is  concerned.  Then 
you  will  wish  to  see  if  you  cannot  learn  to  talk  better.  As  you  improve  in  talking  you  will 
bring  your  writing  up  to  your  talking  once  more.  Perhaps  if  you  read  a  great  deal  you 
will  learn  to  write  better  than  you  talk. 

A  letter  is  a  talk  on  paper  to  some  person  about  some  special  things  he  is  interested  in. 

TEST  YOUR  LETTER  BY  TALKING  IT  ALOUD. 

When  you  have  finished  writing  a  letter,  find  out  for  yourself  what  sort  of  talk  it  is 
by  imagining  that  you  can  see  your  customer  or  the  person  to  whom  you  are  writing  sitting 
at  your  side,  and  read  your  letter  as  if  you  were  talking  it  to  him  face  to  face.  You  will 
soon  find  out  whether  you  are  talking  nonsense  or  not,  whether  what  you  say  sounds  to 
your  ears  like  good  talk.  NEVER  USE  ANY  WORD  OR  PHRASE  IN  A  LETTER 
THAT  WOULD  NOT  SOUND  NATURAL  IF  YOU  WERE  TALKING. 

Then  ask  these  three  questions: 

Do  you  find  in  your  letter  any  word  or  words  repeated  several  times,  so  they  jar  on 
the  ear  when  the  letter  is  read  aloud?  Read  the  letter  aloud  in  a  natural  tone  so  as  to 
catch  these  jarring  words. 

Do  you  find  phrases  or  groups  of  words  which  seem  awkward  when  the  letter  is  read 
aloud  ? 

Have  you  used  any  word  or  expression  of  which  you  could  not  explain  the  meaning 
easily? 

Then  examine  your  letter  word  by  word  to  see  whether  you  FEEL  SURE  IN  YOUR 
HEART  THAT  IT  IS  EXACTLY  RIGHT.  If  you  are  in  doubt  on  any  point,  don't 
hesitate  to  ask  the  teacher,  and  keep  on  asking  till  you  really  understand  the  point. 

ILLUSTRATIVE  CRITICISM  OF  AN  ACTUAL  LETTER. 
Dear  Sir: 

I  will  (1)  be  pleased  to  meet  your  father  at  my  office  at  any  time  (2)  except  Saturday, 

and  the  hours  between  two  and  four  o'clock  is  (3)  most  convenient  for  me  to  see  him  (4). 

Our  meeting  concerning   (5)    the  matter  of  your  correspondence    (6)    will   surely  be 

helpful  to  you,  for  I  shall  try  to  give  the  best  advise  (7)  of  (8)  my  knowledge  pertaining 

(9)  to  those  questions  (10). 

Yours  truly, 

1.  "I  will  be  pleased"  means  I  am  determined  to  be  pleased  whether  or  no.  The  writer 
meant  simply  "I  shall  be  pleased."    It  is  never  proper  to  use  "I  will''  before  "pleased." 

2.  It  is  important  to  avoid  using  a  phrase  either  too  general  or  too  particular  for  the 
occasion.     The  writer  is  here   speaking  of  "days,"   as   is   indicated  by   "except   Saturday" 
which  follows,  and  should  have  said  "any  day."    "Saturday"  should  be  capitalized. 

(OVER) 


3.  "Hours"  is  plural,  and  does  not  go  well  with  the  singular  verb  "is."     Instead  of 
using  the  plural  "hours"  when  a  single  period  of  time  is  in  the  mind  it  would  be  better  to 
substitute  for  "hours"  the  word  "time,"  and  then  rearrange  the  sentence  so  as  to  make  it 
read,  "and  between  two  and  four  o'clock  is  the  most  convenient  time  for  me."    This  places 
the  emphasis  on  "between  two  and  four  o'clock"  where  it  belongs,  and  throws  the  word 
"time"  into  an  inconspicuous  place  where  it  merely  serves  to  supply  a  grammatical  subject 
for  the  verb. 

4.  "To  see  him"  is  clearly  superfluous  and  should  be  omitted. 

5.  "Concerning"  is  an  awkward  preposition  to  use  in  connection  with  "meeting."    We 
do  not  have  meetings  "concerning"  but  "to  consider"  or  "to  discuss." 

6.  The  word  "correspondence"  is  not  clear  in  this  place.     The  boy  was  thinking  of 
studying  "correspondence"  in  a  business  college,  and  yet  probably  here  the  word  refers  to 
the  series  of  letters  that  has  been  passing.     Instead  of  a  vague  term  such  as  "the  matter 
of  our  correspondence"  it  would  be  better  to  state  the  exact  thing  to  be  discussed,  saying 
"our  meeting  to  consider  the  best  course  of  study  for  you  to  take  up." 

7.  "Advice"  as  a  noun  is  spelled  with  a  c  and  is  prononuced  with  the  sound  of  s;  "to 
advise,"  the  verb,  is  spelled  with  an  s  which  is  pronounced  with  the  sound  of  z.    It  'might 
be  better  to  use  the  verb  here  and  say,"for  I  shall  try  to  advise  you  to  the  best  of  my 
ability." 

8.  "Of"  is  clearly  not  the  right  preposition  to  connect  "advise"  and  "knowledge."    The 
preposition  must  conform  to  the  meaning  of  the  word  it  introduces  as  well  as  the  word  it 
follows,  and  "of"  conforms  to  neither.     The  expression  "advise  you  to  the  best  of  my 
ability"  would  cover  the  entire  idea,  and  "ability"  would  be  a  better  word  than  "knowledge" 
in  this  connection. 

9.  "Pertaining"  is  a  formal  word  more  properly  used  in  legal  papers  than  in  simple 
letter  writing,  where  a  very  simple,  inconspicuous  word  like  "on"  would  be  much  better. 

10.  "Questions"  is  another  general  and  vague  word  where  the  letter  writer  ought  to 
say  exactly  what  he  means.     Are  there  real  "questions"  involved?     Why  not  say  "on  the 
proper  course  of  study  for  you  to  pursue"?    A  clear,  definite,  direct  statement  is  always 
the  best. 

Rewrite  the  letter  with  the  corrections  incorporated. 


(Lesson  V,  page  4) 


LESSON  VI.     Possessives. 

See  Grammar,  pp.  33-34 — the  Possessive  case.     Also  section  21,  page  35. 
How  is  the  possessive  case  formed  with   singular  nouns? 

How  is  it  formed  with  plural  nouns? 

How  is  it  formed  with  pronouns? 

In  what  cases  does  the  apostrophe  come  before  the  s? 

In  what  cases  does  it  come  after  the  s? 

Write  the  possessive  case  of  each  of  the  following:  Dickens,  church,  men,  brethren, 
he,  they,  beau,  beaux,  William  the  Conqueror,  sister-in-law,  goodness,  Charles,  Prince  of 
Wales,  goose,  princess,  man-of-war. 

What  is  the  difference  in  meaning  in  the  following: 
A  story  of  Dr.  Brown — A  story  of  Dr.  Brown's? 

Charles's  and  Mary's  books — Charles  and  Mary's  books? 

The    governor's    entertainment — The   entertainment    of   the   governor. 

My  father's  care — The  care  of  my  father? 

Note.  Observe  that  when  two  possess  together,  one  apostrophe  and  s  are  required 

(John  and  Henry's  home — belongs  to  both  together),  but  when  they  possess  independently 

each  noun  must  be  followed  by  the  possessive  sign  (John's  and  Henry's  homes — two  dif- 
ferent homes). 

Note.  Observe  that  the  apostrophe  is  never  required  by  the  possessive  case  of  a  pro- 
noun. 

What  is  "it's"  a  short  form  for? 

What  is  "won't"  a  short  form  for? 

What  is  the  possessive  case  of — he,  she,  it,  they,  I,  we,  who? 

Note.  Observe  that  usually  only  persons  or  other  living  beings  possess,  and  inanimate 
objects  such  as  towns,  rocks,  etc.,  are  personified  when  put  in  the  possessive  case,  though 
there  are  a  few  idiomatic  exceptions  such  as  "a  day's  work,"  "art  for  art's  sake,"  etc. 

Rewrite  the  following  correctly : 

The  book's  pages  are  wet. 

The  doctor's  hours  are  from  nine  to  four. 
The  school's  hours  are  from  nine  to  one. 


Grammar,  pp.  33-34.  Lesson  VI, 

Nouns  and  pronouns  also  have  a  third  case,, the  possessive,  indicated  in  nouns  by  the 
apostrophe  and  s  or  the  apostrophe  alone.  The  possessive  case  has  precisely  the  logical  rela- 
tion in  a  sentence  that  an  adjective  has,  that  is,  it  is  a  direct  modifier  of  a  noun,  and  is 
used  in  no  other  way,  though  often  the  noun  modified  is  implied.  Like  a  noun,  however,  it 
is  modified  by  adjectives,  not  by  adverbs.  The  case  offers  no  special  difficulty.  It  is  usually 
interchangeable  with  a  prepositional  phrase  containing  of. 

Note.  Nouns  in  the  singular  regularly  form  the  possessive  case  by  adding  an  apostro- 
phe and  s,  as  man's  John's,  Dickens's.  Some  writers  omit  the  s  when  the  singular  form 
itself  ends  with  s  or  an  equivalent  sound,  and  write  Dickens',  conscience',  etc. ;  but  the  best 
usage  is  always  to  write  the  s  after  the  apostrophe  even  if  it  cannot  be  pronounced.  Plural 
nouns  ending  in  s  take  merely  the  apostrophe  to  indicate  the  possessive  case,  as  cows',  hens', 
etc.  If,  however,  the  plural  form  does  not  end  in  s,  the  apostrophe  must  be  followed  by 
s,  as  in  men's,  children's,  ete.  Pronouns  never  take  an  apostrophe  to  indicate  the  possessive 
case.  We  write  its,  his,  etc.  It's  is  a  contraction  for  it  is  and  must  not  be  confused  with 
the  possessive  case  of  it. 


LESSON  VI   (Continued).     Practice  in  Criticism. 

If  you  have  now  learned  something  about  how  to  criticise  a  letter  you  can  put  your 
knowledge  to  a  practical  test  by  criticising  the  following  actual  letters,  just  as  was  done 
with  the  letter  in  the  last  lesson.  On  each  point  for  criticism  you  will  find  a  little  hint  such 
as  your  teacher  might  give  you  in  helping  you  to  criticise  your  own  letters. 

Write  out  your  criticism  on  each  point  as  fully  and  carefully  as  you  can,  and  then 
copy  each  letter  on  a  page  by  itself,  supplying  a  suitable  heading,  address,  and  signature. 
As  these  letters  are  written  in  a  series,  be  sure  the  dates  are  set  at  natural  and  reasonable 
intervals.  Test  the  form  of  your  letter  by  the  list  of  questions  on  form  given  in  a  previous 
lesson.  Notice  that  the  first  of  these  letters  is  supposed  to  be  a  reply  to  the  letter  criticised 
in  the  last  lesson. 

Dear  Sir:  A' 

My  father  went  to  call  on  you  in  Philadelphia  (1)  but  found  that  you  had  been  called 
unexpectedly  from  the  city.  Your  absence,  however,  could  not  be  avoided  (2),  so  whenever 
you  can  find  any  (3)  time  convenient  for  another  meeting  with  (4)  father,  he  shall  (5) 
then  be  pleased  to  call  on  you.  Very  tmly  yours> 

Dear  Sir— (6) 

I  regret  very  much  that  I  was  not  at  home  when  your  father  called.  (7)  Was  suddenly 
called  from  the  city  on  a  (8)  very  important  business,  which  could  not  be  postponed.  I 
shall  be  pleased  to  meet  your  father  at  any  future  time  that  he  may  want  (9)  to  see  me. 

I  feel  very  sorry  that  I  was  not  at  home,  and  wish  you  would  convey  (10)  my  apology 
to  (11)  father  for  my  absence. 

Yours  truly, 

Dear  Sir: 

In  answer  to  your  note  of  the  16th,  I  wish  to  inform  you  that  father  desires  to  renew 
(12)  his  call  on  you  at  your  office  in  Philadelphia.  The  time  most  convenient  for  him  to 
call  is  day  after  to-morrow,  at  two  o'clock.  I  wish  to  extend  (13)  my  thanks  for  your 
courtesy,  and  hope  this  appointment  will  be  suitable  (14)  to  you. 

Very  truly  yours, 

Dear  Sir: 

I  have  just  received  your  note  of  appointment  (15)  and  wish  to  say  that  the  day  and 
hour  is  (16)  convenient  to  (17)  me.  I  shall  then  (18)  be  sure  to  be  in  the  (19)  office  at 
the  time  mentioned. 

Yours  truly, 

F 
Dear  Sir: 

We  received  the  book  on  card  systems  ordered  of  (20)  you  ten  days  ago.  It  is  not  just 
what  we  want,  so  we  have  returned  it,  with  bill  (21),  under  separate  cover. 

Very  truly  yours, 

Gentlemen : 

Inclose  (22)  you  will  find  one  dollar  (23)  for  which  send  the  General  Retailer  for  the 
following  year. 

TT 

Gentlemen : 

Inclose    (24)    find  check   for  one   dollar    (25)    for   which   send    (26)    Bookkeeper   and 
Stenographer  to  this  house  for  one  year. 
ind.  (27).  Yours  Truly  (28), 

(OVER) 


I. 

SENTENCES. 

I  took  (29)  a  course  of  double-entry  bookkeeping  in  one  of  the  best  business  colleges 
in  the  state.  I  am  familiar  with  purchase  and  general  (30)  ledgers.  I  (31)  refer  you  to 
Mr.  James  Brown,  Pineridge,  Cal.,  or  Heald's  College,  Fresno,  Cal. 

I  should  expect  fifteen  dollars   (32)  a  week  at  beginning. 

I  am  good  at  figures  and  accurate  (33). 

I  can  refer  you  to  several  (34)  where  I  have  held  positions  of  confidence  (35),  and  as 
to  (36)  my  irreproachable  (37)  character. 

A. 

1.  Is  the  punctuation  all  right?  Observe  that  "call"  is  used  in  two  senses.  2.  Why 
should  you  tell  him  his  absence  could  not  be  avoided?  3.  What  is  the  difference  in  meaning 
between  "any  time"  and  "a  time"?  4.  Whose  father?  You  are  not  the  only  person  in  the 
world  who  has  a  father.  5.  What  is  the  matter  with  this  verb? 

B. 

6.  What  is  the  preferred  punctuation  after  a  salutation?  If  this  punctuation  is  right, 
why  may  not  the  same  person  use  a  colon  or  a  comma  and  dash  as  he  happens  to  feel  like 
it?  7.  In  saying  this  in  conversation  would  you  omit  the  subject  of  the  verb?  8.  Does 
"a"  go  well  with  "business"  in  this  connection?  9.  Do  you  think  the  principal  of  your 
school  would  have  been  likely  to  write  "want"  in  this  letter?  What  is  meant  by  the  "tone 
of  a  word"?  10.  Spelling?  11.  Whose  father?  Surely  not  the  principal's  father? 

C. 

12.  Do  we  "renew"  calls?  What  things  are  "renewed"?  13.  Is  "extend"  the  word 
you  would  use  in  such  a  connection  as  this?  14.  Are  "appointments"  "suitable"?  What 
are  they?  What  things  are  "suitable"? 

D. 

15.  Which  would  you  prefer,  "note  of  appointment"  or  "letter  making  an  appointment 
to  meet  your  father"?  Is  the  punctuation  all  right  at  this  point?  16.  What  is  the  subject 
of  "is"?  17.  What  is  the  best  preposition  with  which  to  follow  "convenient"?  18.  Do 
you  think  "then"  is  definite  enough  here?  Could  the  word  have  any  other  meaning  in 
such  a  position  than  "at  that  time"?  19.  Whose  office? 

F. 

20.  What  other  preposition  might  be  preferred?  21.  We  send  books  "with  bill;"  but 
why  return  them  "with  bill"? 

G. 

22.  What  form  of  the  verb  should  this  be?  23.  Is  the  punctuation  sufficient  at  this 
point?  Supply  a  suitable  complimentary  close. 

H. 

24.  Form  of  verb  needed?  Is  "inclose"  better  than  "enclose"?  Why?  Look  in  the 
dictionary.  25.  Punctuation?  26.  Any  word  omitted.  27.  Should  this  word,  at  the  end 
of  a  letter,  be  written  with  a  capital  or  a  small  letter?  What  does  the  abbreviation  indicate? 

28.  Should  "Truly"  be  capitalized? 

I. 

29.  Is  this  the  right  tense  to  use  in  a  letter  applying  for  a  position?     30.     Could  you 
take  a  course  in  bookkeeping  and  not  be  familiar  with  the  "general"  ledger?     Why  refer 
to  "purchase"  ledger?     31.     How  would  you  avoid  beginning  all  these  sentences  with  I? 
32.    Would  you  consider  it  good  policy  in  a  letter  of  application  to  mention  "fifteen  dollars 
a  week"?     Is  that  too  much?     33.     If  a  person  is  "good  at  figures"  isn't  he  "accurate" 
anyway?     34.  "Several"  what?     35.     Exactly  what  is  a  "position  of  confidence"?     36.     Is 
it  desirable  to  change  the  construction  from  "where"  to  "as  to"?     37.     Isn't  this  word  a 
little  too  strong  for  the  circumstances?     If  you  were  going  to  put  these  sentences  into  a 
properly  connected  letter,  how  would  you  dovetail  them  together  to  make  a  smooth  letter? 

(Lesson  VI,  page  4) 


LESSON  VII.     Predicate  Complements. 

See  Grammar,  section  22,  pages  35-37. 
What  is  a  predicate  complement? 

What  is  a  predicate  adjective? 

What  is  an  objective  complement? 

Is  an  objective  complement  a  noun  or  an  adjective? 

Are  adverbs  ever  used  as  complements? 

What  is  the   difference  between   a  predicate  complement  and  a  direct  object? 

Diagram  the  following  sentences  below: 

Note.     When  two  or  more  words  are  in  the  same  construction,  split  the  line  on  which 
they  are  to  stand,  as  follows : 

John 
He  named  X        ^-^o     Henrv   ^\      I    sons 


It  was  called,  by  the  people  of  the  neighborhood,  the  Golden  River. 
Its  crops  were  so  heavy  that  it  was  commonly  railed  the  Treasure  Valley. 
The  two   elder  brothers  were  very  ugly  men,  with  overhanging  eyebrows. 
They  lived  by  farming  the  Treasure   Valley,  and  very  good  farmers  they  were. 
He   was    usually   appointed   to   the   honorable    office   of   turnspit,   when  there   was   any- 
thing to  roast,  which  was  not  often. 


Grammar,  Sect.  22,  pp.  35-36.  Lesson  VII. 

Predicate  Complements.    We  have  seen  that  a  verb  may  be  followed  by  an  object 
noun  or  by  a  "predicate  nominative" — a  noun  in  the  nominative  case  which  means  the  same 
as  the  subject  of  the  verb.    The  verb  may  also  assert  a  quality  or  characteristic  of  the  sub- 
ject by  the  use  of  an  adjective  in  the  predicate  which  really  qualifies  the  subject,  as  when  we 
say  "He  is  good"  we  assert  the  quality  of  goodness  as  belonging  to  the  subject  he. 
These  predicate  complements,  as  they  are  called,  may  be  pictured  as  follows : 
A  noun  as  the  direct  object  of  a  verb,  as  in  "He  killed  the  man" — 

He          II          killed  I       man 


A  noun  as  predicative  nominative,  as  in  "His  name  was  John" — 
name         fl          was        \        John 


An  adjective  expressing  a  quality  asserted  of  the  subject,  as  in  "That  story  is  excel- 
lent"- 

story         ||  is        \        excellent 


Sameness  may  be  asserted  between  two  objects  of  an  active  verb,  as  in  "We  named 
him  John," 

We       §      named       /     John      |      him 

(In  this  case  John  is  placed  before  him,  though  him  is  more  closely  related  to  the 
verb,  in  order  that  the  slanting  line  before  John  may  clearly  indicate  that  the  word  is  to  be 
connected  with  him.  If  John  followed  him,  preceded  by  a  slanting  line,  it  might  seem  to  refer 
back  to  the  subject,  we.) 

In  the  same  way  an  active  verb  may  assert  a  quality  of  its  object,  as  in  "The  medicine 
will  make  you  sick,"  which  may  be  diagrammed  as  follows: 

medicine      ||     will  make     /     sick       |     you 


These  secondary  objects  and  qualities  are  spoken  of  as  objective  nouns  and  adjectives 
or  objective  complements. 


LESSON  VII  {'Continued),    From  the  Office  of  a  Railroad  Superintendent. 

CIRCULAR  NO.  125. 
Bulletin  No.  76. 

ALL  AGENTS  AND  FREIGHT  HANDLERS  (1). 

We  have  lately  had  so  many  claims  for  damaged  eggs  (2)  that  we  have  been  studying 
how  to  overcome  them  (3),  and  have  concluded  that  our  loading  of  eggs  in  cars  for  ship- 
ments, that  is,  lengthwise  with  the  car,  is  wrong,  for  (4)  a  recent  test  of  eighty-nine  cases 
made  by  (5)  Special  Agent,  developed  (6)  that  on  the  cases  loaded  crosswise  with  the  car 
there  was  practically  no  damage,  while  eggs  (7)  in  cases  loaded  lengthwise  with  the  car, 
were  in  nearly  every  case  damaged  (8).  With  this  idea  in  view  (9)  we  will  change  the 
loading  of  eggs,  (including  butter  and  egg  runs)  on  this  division,  and  observe  the  following 
rules  (19)  :  Car  floor  will  hold  three  cases  crosswise  and  one  lengthwise — the  first  tier 
should  be  loaded  in  this  (11)  manner  with  the  row  lengthwise  along  one  side  of  the  car. 
The  second  tier  should  be  loaded  crosswise  with  a  row  lengthwise  near  the  center  (12). 
The  third  tier  should  be  loaded  crosswise  with  a  row  lengthwise  along  opposite  side  of 
car  (13),  then  alternate  the  lengthwise  row  in  each  tier  so  that  one  will  not  come  above 
another. 

*  It  is  not  children  alone  who  mix  their  verbs,  run  sentences  together,  paragraph  badly, 
and  so  confuse  .their  words  it  is  almost  impossible  to  tell  what  they  mean.  Railroad  men 
in  their  letters  and  bulletins  are  among  the  worst  sinners.  An  order  like  the  preceding  is 
not  at  all  unusual.  Let  us  try  to  reconstruct  this  so  as  to  make  it  clear,  simple,  and 
effective. 


1.  What  punctuation  is  needed  here?  2.  Were  not  the  claims  "for  damage  to  eggs" 
rather  than  "for  damaged  eggs"?  3.  Make  a  new  sentence  here.  The  words  that  follow 
are  needlessly  twisted.  Say  briefly  and  simply,  "We  have  concluded  that  loading  eggs 
lengthwise  with  the  car  is  wrong."  4.  Another  sentence  may  begin  here.  5.  Do  not  omit 
the  small  word  "a."  Nothing  is  gained  by  it.  6.  The  writer  means  "has  developed  the 
fact  that."  Change  what  follows  into  a  clause  with  "when."  7.  Observe  the  change  in 
sentence  construction  here  from  "on  cases"  to  "eggs  in  cases."  Make  the  construction  in 
the  same  clause  uniform.  8.  Here  is  a  good  place  for  a  new  paragraph.  9.  "With  this 
idea  in  view"  is  a  very  poor  way  of  saying  "we  will 'therefore."  10.  These  rules  should 
be  put  into  another  paragraph.  What  follows  seems  to  b»  put  backwards  foremost.  11.  To 
just  what  does  "this"  refer?  Change  the  construction.  12.  This  is  the  first  really  good 
sentence  in  the  order.  13.  A  new  sentence  begins  here.  These  two  sentences  are  run 
together  with  only  a  cofnma  between  because  the  writer  seems  to  think  "then"  is  a  relative 
word  like  "when." 

Several  commas  in  this  circular  are  misplaced:  which  are  they  and  where  should  they  go? 
Rewrite  the  whole  in  the  best  simple  and  clear  English  you  can  command. 


EXERCISES  ON  WORDS  OFTEN  MISUSED 

See  Dictionary  of  Errors,  page  95,  "Words  Often  Misused,"  or  How  to  Do  Business  by 
Letter,  pp.  29,  33. 

What  is  the  difference  in  meaning  between  "a  small  and  speckled  fish"  and  "a  small 
and  a  speckled  fish"? 

For  what  have  you  "ability,"  and  for  what  have  you  "capacity"  ? 

Mention  a  case  of  "acceptance"  and  another  of  "acceptation." 

Is  an  ambassador  "credited"  or  "accredited"  to  the  Court  of  St.  James? 

Are  you  "affected"  or  "effected"  by  a  cold?    Does  the  President  "affect"  or  "effect"  the 
removal  of  a  bad  officer? 

Do  you  say  you  are  "afraid  of  burglars,"  or  "afraid  you  can't  go"? 

What  "aggravates"  the  offense?     Can  you  "aggravate"  a  person? 

Why  is  it  wrong  to  say  "These  pictures  are  both  alike"? 

Should  a  teacher  say,  "The  boy's  mother  is  alleged  to  be  sick"? 

How   many  "alternatives"   can   there  be? 

Is  a  dream  an  "allusion"  or  an  "illusion"? 

Should  you  say,  "Please  divide  the  cake  between  all  the  boys"?     What  should  you  say? 

When  should  "an"  be  used  before  a  word  beginning  with  h? 

What  is  the  matter  with,  "He  told  me  a  deliberate  and  malicious  falsehood,  and  which 
he  knew  would  hurt  his  brother"? 

What  is  the  meaning  of  "etc."?     What  is  the  difference  between  "etc.,"  "and  so  forth," 
and  "and  the  like"? 

Write  a  sentence  using  "antiseptic"  correctly. 

When  may  you  use  "anyhow"?     What  is  a  "vulgarism"? 

When  do  you  "apprehend"  and  when  do  you  "comprehend"  what  your  teacher  says? 

(Lesson  VII,  page  4) 


Extra  double  lesson  and  review :     Write  cut  Exercise  III,  Grammar,  page  37. 

LESSON   VIII.     The   Verb. 

See  Grammar,  pp.  38-41. 
What  is  an  auxiliary  verb? 

In  the   following  verb  phrases,  underscore  the  auxiliary  verbs:  have  done,  did  act,  is 
beloved,  shall  have  been  done,  is  going  to  be  done,  will  be  killed. 
What  is  the  passive  voice? 

Change  the  following  sentences  so  that  the  verb  will  be  in  the  passive  voice: 

The  man  killed  the  policeman.     (Changed  form — The  policeman  was  killed  by  the  man.) 

We  caught  a  basketful  of  fish. 

The  manager  told  him  he  must  leave  at  once. 

The  wheat  corner  last  spring  ruined  him. 

Questions : 

What  is  the  progressive  form  of  the  verb? 

Give  six  original  examples  of  the  progressive  form  of  the  verb. 

What  are  perfect  tenses?     What  auxiliary  is  used  to  indicate  them? 

What  is  the  auxiliary  verb  "do"  used  for?     Give  three  examples. 

What  are  "shall"  and  "will"  used  to  indicate? 

After  what  pronouns  is  "shall"  found  and  after  what  "will"? 

What  are  "should"  and  "would"?     In  what  kinds  of  sentences  are  they  usually  found? 

What  is  the  difference  between  the  potential  mode  and  the  indicative?    What  auxiliaries 
are  used  with  the  potential? 

What  is  the  meaning  of  "tense"? 

Give  three  examples  of  sentences  with  the  present  tense. 

Give  three  examples  of  sentences  with  the  past  tense. 

Give  three  examples  of  sentences  with  the  future  tense. 

What  is  number?     Give  examples. 

What  is  person?     What  are  the  three  persons? 

State  the  rule  for  the  agreement  of  the  verb  in  person  and  number. 


Grammar,  pp.  38-41.  Lesson  VIII. 

THE  VERB. 

The  verb  offers  far  more  complications  than  any  other  part  of  speech.  In  the  first 
place,  it  often  consists  of  more  than  one  word.  There  are  a  number  of  verbs  known  as 
auxiliary  verbs,  some  of  which  are  used  only  as  auxiliaries,  and  some  of  which  may  also 
appear  as  independent  verbs. 

The  three  most  important  auxiliaries  are  to  be,  to  have,  and  to  do,  all  of  which  may 
also  be  used  independently.  To  be  is  the  most  irregular  verb  in  the  English  language,  and 
has  many  forms  apparently  utterly  unlike,  as  am,  is  are,  was,  were,  as  well  as  be  and  been 
and  some  antiquated  forms  like  beest,  etc. 

The  verb  to  be  indicates  existence  in  the  simplest  and  most  direct  way  in  which  it 
can  be  indicated,  and  has  the  force  of  asserting  without  asserting  anything  in  particular. 
The  particular  character  of  the  assertion  is  to  be  looked  for  in  the  words  which  follow.  This 
verb  is  used  to  indicate  what  is  called  the  passive  voice,  or  a  form  of  assertion  in  which  the 
subject  bears  everything  but  actually  does  nothing.  For  example,  "I  am  wounded,"  "You  were 
loved,"  "He  is  ruined,"  are  illustrations  of  the  passive  voice,  in  which  parts  of  the  verb 
to  be  appear  as  auxiliaries  to  the  verb  forms  which  contain  the  real  significance. 

To  be  is  also  used  to  indicate  what  is  called  the  progressive  form  of  the  verb,  which 
asserts  the  action  or  state  as'  continuing  at  the  time  indicated  by  the  tense  of  the  verb,  as  "I 
am  going  there  now,"  "He  was  reading  a  book,"  "You  were  thinking  about  it  at  that  time." 

The  verb  to  have  is  used  as  an  auxiliary  to  indicate  a  peculiar  state  of  completeness 
in  the  action  at  a  given  time,  as  "I  have  already  done  it"  (at  the  present  time),  "I  had  told 
him  all  about  it"  (at  the  past  time  to  which  I  refer),  etc.  The  forms  in  which  to  have  and 
its  parts  occur  as  auxiliaries  are  spoken  of  as  the  perfect  tenses,  since  they  assert  the  action 
as  being  perfect  or  completed  at  a  certain  time,  either  past,  present,  or  future. 

The  verb  to  do  is  used  as  an  auxiliary  to  give  peculiar  emphasis  to  an  assertion,  as 
in  "I  do  love  you,"  in  asking  question  without  emphasis,  as  "Do  you  see  it?"  and  with  nega- 
tives, as  "She  did  not  come  to  the  party." 

Shall  and  will  are  the  two  words  regularly  used  to  indicate  action  or  state  of  being 
at  a  future  time,  as  in  "I  shall  go  there  to-morrow,"  "Will  you  do  as  I  ask  you?"  Shall  is 
regularly  used  v/ith  the  first  person  (I  and  we),  will  with  other  persons;  but  there  are  many 
variations  from  this  rule  which  we  shall  consider  later. 

Should  and  would  are  apparently  past  tenses  of  shall  and  will,  but  as  auxiliaries  they 
indicate  conditional  action  or  state  of  being,  as  in  "Would  you  have  done  it,  had  I  requested 
it?"  These  words  are  usually  found  in  constructions  which  contain  or  imply  a  subordinate 
sentence  introduced  by  if  or  some  similar  word.  In  the  example  above,  "had  I  requested  it" 
is  equivalent  to  "if  I  had  requested  it." 

Can,  may,  and  their  corresponding  past  forms  could  and  might,  are  used  to  indicate 
possibility  of  some  kind,  and  indicate,  with  should  and  would,  what  is  called  the  potential 
mode.  Simple  assertion  constitutes  the  indicative  mode.  Must  and  let  may  also  be  ranked 
as  auxiliaries. 

All  verbs  indicate  the  time  of  the  action  or  state  of  being  as  present,  past,  or  future, 
and  accordingly  are  said  to  be  in  the  present,  past,  or  future  tense  (tense  meaning  time). 
Thus  "I  am  here"  is  the  present  tense,  "I  went  to  town  yesterday"  is  the  past  tense,  "I  shall 
be  hungry  at  dinner  time"  is  the  future  tense.  The  past  and  present  tenses  are  regularly 
indicated  by  different  forms  of  the  verb,  ed  being  added  to  the  present  to  indicate  the  past, 
as  in  "I  love  you"  (present)  and  "I  loved  you  once"  (past).  Loving  is  a  present  form,  as 
loved  is  past. 

The  English  verb  ordinarily  has  but  one  other  irregularity  or  variation,  and  that  is 
used  to  indicate  the  third  person  singular  of  the  indicative  mode.  To  understand  that,  we 
must  know  the  meaning  of  person  and  number. 

Number.  All  nouns  or  pronouns  are  either  plural  or  singular  in  number.  /,  he  she, 
it,  cow,  horse,  cat,  dog,  are  all  singular  because  they  refer  to  only  one  object;  but  we,  they, 
coivs,  horses,  cats,  dogs,  are  plural,  because  each  refers  to  more  than  one  object. 

Person.  The  person  speaking  is  the  first  person  (I  or  we),  the  person  spoken  to  is  the 
second  person  (you,  thou),  while  the  person  spoken  of  is  the  third  person  (he,  she,  it,  they, 
these,  etc.) 

Rule.  The  verb  must  agree  with  its  subject  in  person  and  number.  In  English  the 
form  of  the  verb  is  usually  the  same  for  all  persons  and  numbers,  except  the  third  person 
singular  of  the  present  indicative,  and  the  forms  derived  from  it.  The  only  exception  is 
found  in  the  case  of  the  irregular  verb  to  be  and  the  forms  used  with  the  now  antiquated 
pronoun  thou. 


LESSON  VIII  (Continued).     Punctuation— Capital  Letters. 

A  punctuation  mark  is  like  a  word  or  letter  in  the  sentence — it  helps  to  express  the 
kieaning  clearly,  so  preventing  confusion.  The  great  modern  rule  for  punctuation  is — 

NEVER  USE  A  PUNCTUATION  MARK  THAT  DOES  NOT  HELP  TO  EX- 
PRESS  THE  MEANING.  If  you  cannot  see  a  good  reason  for  using  any  given  mark  it  is 
better  to  omit  it. 

Certain  things  are  indicated  by  punctuation  marks,  and  we  should  study  the  art  of 
punctuation  just  as  we  would  study  the  art  of  expressing  ideas  by  words.  When  we  fully 
understand  the  '/alue  of  each  mark  and  how  it  may  be  used,  we  will  then  employ  it,  not 
according  to  blind  rule,  but  for  the  purpose  of  getting  our  own  ideas  expressed  so  others 
will  understand  us. 

The  best  way  in  which  to  learn  it  is  to  form  the  habit  of  observing  the  punctuation 
of  standard  literature  as  one  reads.  The  number  of  rules  in  common  manuals  of  punctua- 
tion is  so  great  as  to  confuse  rather  than  to  aid  the  mind.  It  is  better  to  drill  on  a  very 
few  cardinal  principles,  and  trust  to  instinct  and  observation  for  cases  not  covered  by  such 
principles.  For  practical  convenience  we  may  include  capital  letters  under  the  head  of 
punctuation,  though  that  is  not  technically  a  question  of  "pointing." 

CAPITAL  LETTERS. — Every  noun  which  is  the  name  of  a  single  individual  is  called  a 
proper  noun,  and  should  begin  with  a  capital  letter,  while  a  noun  which  designates  a  class 
of  individuals  is  called  a  common  noun,  and  begins  with  a  small  letter  unless  the  capital 
be  required  by  its  position  in  the  sentence. 

Examples :  John,  Mary,  Europe,  Washington,  (the)  Coliseum,  etc.,  are  proper  nouns ; 
cow,  west,  country,  sun,  battle,  etc.,  are  all  common  nouns.  If,  however,  a  common  noun 
by  continued  use  designates  a  particular  object  or  place,  by  such  use  it  becomes  a  proper 
noun  and  must  be  written  with  a  capital  letter,  as  (the)  South  used  to  designate  the  southern 
part  of  the  United  States,  (the)  West  used  to  designate  the  western  part  of  the  United 
States,  (the)  Orient  used  to  designate  Asia  and  adjacent  territory,  etc.  (The)  sun  and 
(the)  moon  might  appear  with  capitals,  but  the  capitals  are  not  employed.  The  seasons 
also  are  written  with  small  letters,  as  summer,  winter,  etc. 

Adjectives  derived  from  proper  names  are  also  written  with  capitals,  as  European, 
Western  (referring  to  the  western  part  of  the  United  States),  Oriental,  etc. 

There  is  an  old  rule  that  every  sentence  begins  with  a  capital  letter;  but  this  is  true 
only  if  the  preceding  sentence  ends  with  a  full  stop. 

Every  line  of  poetry  begins  with  a  capital  letter. 
Titles  of  persons,  books,  etc.,  are  capitalized. 

Common  nouns  are  sometimes  written  with  capital  letters  to  show  emphasis,  or  when 
by  a  figure  of  speech  the  writer  wishes  to  give  them  the  dignity  of  proper  nouns,  as  "The 
three  cardinal  principles  of  sentence-making  are  Unity,  Mass,  and  Coherence";  "He  was 
very  fond  of  Art  (spelled  with  a  capital  letter)." 

Quotations  and  statements  complete  in  themselves  as  sentences  are  begun  with  capital 
letters.  Examples:  He  said,  "Now  is  the  time  to  make  your  fortune";  The  great  rule 
for  business  success  is,  Do  well  whatever  you  have  to  do,  cost  what  it  may. 

Incomplete  quotations  are  not  begun  with  capitals.  Example:  He  sent  word  home 
to  have  a  good  dinner  ready;  "for,"  said  he,  "I  have  not  had  anything  fit  to  eat  in  three 
days." 

(OVER) 


EXERCISES. 

It  is  more  important  to  get  a  principle  fixed  in  the  mind  than  to  memorize  all  the 
cases  in  which  that  principle  might  be  applied.  I  have  before  me  a  book  giving  twenty-six 
rules  for  the  use  of  capital  letters;  but  if  you  have  the  preceding  principles  clearly  in  mind 
you  can  make  the  rule  for  yourself  whenever  you  need  it.  Let  us  begin  with  the  first  great 
principle,  that  the  name  of  one  individual  begins  with  a  capital  letter,  but  the  name  of  a 
class  does  not. 

You  know  well  enough  that  the  names  of  persons  and  places  begin  with  capital  letters ; 
but  let  us  examine  some  particular  cases. 

Would  you  capitalize  "street"  in  the  following?  "He  lives  on  this  street";  "There 
was  a  flurry  on  the  street  today"  (meaning  Wall  Street). 

"I  should  like  to  interview  the  head  of  your  company";  "I  do  not  think  the  company 
would  grant  your  request" ;  "I  do  not  think  our  company  would  grant  your  request" :  how 
about  "company"  in  each  sentence? 

Would  you  capitalize  "congress,"  "the  house  of  representatives,"  "the  house  of  com- 
mons," "the  young  men  Christian  association,"  "the  university  of  the  state  of  Illinois," 
"the  high  school  at  Streator,"  "the-Streator  high  school,"  "Garden  street,"  "the  Missouri 
river,"  "the  thirteenth  ward"  (meaning  a  certain  ward  in  Chicago  or  any  other  particular 
city),  "the  revolutionary  war"  (in  American  history),  "the  Congressional  library"?  In  the 
case  of  a  double  name  like  "Congressional  library"  or  "Garfield  avenue,"  what  is  the  real 
and  full  name?  How  do  you  decide  what  words  to  capitalize  and  what  not  to  capitalize? 

EXERCISES   ON  WORDS   OFTEN   MISUSED 

See  Dictionary  of  Errors,  page  98,  or  How  to  Do  Business  by  Letter,  pp.  34,  38,  43. 

Are  you  "apt,"  "likely,"  or  "liable"  to  get  into  trouble? 

Mention  five  things  that  "rise"  and  five  that  "arise." 

When  should  one  use  "as"  and  when  "so"  in  making  a  comparison?  Give  three  examples 
of  each. 

Do  you  "arrive  at  the  village  of  Lexington"  or  "in"?  "At  Chicago"  or  "in"?  "At 
England'  or  "in  England"? 

Do  you  live  "at  No.  48  Gary  Street"  or  "in"? 

Is  it  proper  to  say  there  was  a  large  "audience"  at  the  pantomime? 

What  is  a  woman  who  writes  books? 

If  a  boy  strikes  you  do  you  "avenge"  the  wrong  or  "take  revenge"  for  it? 

Is  going  to  school  your  "vocation"  or  your  "avocation"? 

Why  is  it  ridiculous  to  speak  of  an  "awfully  nice  piece  of  pie"? 

What  is  the  meaning  of  "balance"?  Why  is  it  not  correct  to  say  "The  balance  of  us 
left  at  five"? 

Write  three  sentences  in  which  "besides"  and  "beside"  are  correctly  used. 

Can  you  divide  an  apple  between  three  girls? 

What  should  you  say  instead  of  "He  blamed  it  on  me"? 

What  is  the  matter  with  "He  both  learns  his  lessons  well  and  quickly"? 

Give  a  sentence  illustrating  the  correct  use  of  "bring,"  "fetch,"  and  "carry." 

Give  a  sentence  in  which  "but"  is  a  preposition  followed  by  he  or  him.  What  is  the 
matter  with  "but  what"? 

Do  peas  have  bulk?     Does  work?     Does  love?     Does  beef? 

What  is  the  difference  between  a  room  filled  "by"  a  crowd  and  a  room  filled  "with" 
a  crowd? 

What  is  the  objection  to  "I  calculate  on  getting  there  first"? 

Would  you  say  that  a  pretty  little  lady  was  childlike  or  childish? 

Can  you  claim  to  have  learned  your  lesson? 

Give  a  sentence  in  which  "compare  to"  is  correctly  used. 

(Lesson  VIII,  page  4) 


LESSON  IX.     Singular  and  Plural. 

Study  the  Grammar  carefully  from  the  bottom  of  page  4.1  to  the  end  of  the  chapter 
before  attempting  to  write  out  the  following  sentences  with  the  correct  form. 

If  revision,  criticism,  and  systematic  instruction  (is — are)  required,  I  shall  be  glad  to 
give  them. 

If  revision,  criticism,  or  systematic  instruction  (is — are)  required,  I  shall  be  glad  to 
give  them. 

Every  little  girl  and  boy  (has — have)   a  stick  of  candy. 

All  the  little  girls  and  boys  (have — has)   sticks  of  candy. 

None  of  the  apples   (is — are)  good. 

None    (is — are)   man  enough  to  own  his  crime. 

Practically  none  of  the  papers  (have — has)  the  complete  story. 

A  number  of  the  employees    (have — has)   left,  and  others  will  follow. 

A  certain  number  of  the  employees  (have — has)  been  called  on. 

There    (is — are)    a  large  number  on   the  train. 

The  Russian  people    (have — has)   declared   (themselves — itself). 

The  American  people    (know — knows)   his  honesty. 

The   crowd    (is — are)    filling  the  square. 

A  multitude  of  men  and  women   (buy — buys)   patent  medicines. 

The   army    (has — have)    arrived   in  town. 

The  Company   (has — have)   built  a  new  factory. 

John  Wanamaker  &  Co.   (have— has)  a  store  in  New  York. 

My  friend  (don't— does  n't)  like  this  place. 

The  United  States  army  (is  n't— ain't)  as  large  as  that  of  England. 

Note. — Look    up    "ain't"    in   the   dictionary. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  (have  n't— has  n't)  the  love  for  music  found  in  Ger- 
many. 

The  American  people   (has  n't — have  n't)   eradicated  "graft." 

Note.— Why  is  "graft"  put  in  quotation  marks  in  this  and  in  the  preceding  sentence? 


Grammar,  pp.  41   seq.  Lesson  IX. 

Thus  we  con)  ugate  the  verb  to  do : 

Present  tense  Past  tense 

I  do  We  do  I  did        We  did 

You  do     You  do  You  did  You  did 

He  does    They  do  He  did    They  did 

The  only  irregular  form  that  we  find  here  is  "he  does."  Instead  of  he  we  may  sub- 
stitute any  singular  subject  in  the  third  person,  that  is,  any  noun  or  pronoun  (not  I,  we,  or 
you},  and  say  "A  man  does,"  "Helen  does,"  "It  does,"  "One  does."  Our  instincts  are  suffi- 
ciently good  guides  for  most  cases.  We  would  not  say*  "The  babies  does  all  they  likes," 
nor  "John  do  many  hard  jobs."  But  there  are  many  words  and  combinations  which  do  not 
show  clearly  on  their  face  whether  they  are  singular  or  plural.  "John  and  Helen"  would 
be  followed  by  a  plural  form  of  the  verb,  because  the  two  taken  together  are  used  as  the 
subject;  but  "John  or  Helen"  would  be  followed  by  the  singular  form  of  the  verb,  because 
we  are  thinking  of  either  one,  but  not  of  both  at  the  same  time. 

"All  of  us"  is  plural,  evidently,  but  "Every  one  of  us,"  which  means  practically  the 
same  thing,  as  it  would  seem,  is  singular,  because  "Every  one  of  us"  means  all  of  us  taken  one 
at  a  time,  and  the  form  of  the  verb  must  be  singular.  So  also  "Every  man  and  woman"  is 
singular,  because  though  man  and  woman  taken  together  are  plural,  the  every  indicates  that 
we  take  only  one  man  or  woman  at  a  time ;  hence  the  verb  which  follows  must  be  singular. 

Some  modern  grammarians  contend  that  the  word  none  is  singular  because  it  is  evi- 
dently derived  by  a  contraction  of  no  one,  but  the  best  authorities  hold  that  none  may  be 
either  singular  or  plural,  and  a  phrase  such  as  "None  of  the  men  remains  or  remain  in  trie 
room"  may  mean  that  the  very  last  man  is  gone,  or  that  the  last  group  of  men  is  gone.  If 
we  are  thinking  of  the  last  man,  none  is  singular,  but  if  we  mean  the  last  group  of  men, 
none  is  plural.  So  some  grammarians  contend  that  "a  number  of  men"  is  always  singular, 
because  there  is  but  one  "number."  But  in  such  a  sentence  as  "A  number  of  us  are  going 
to  town"  it  is  better  to  regard  "a  number"  as  a  plural  form,  in  analogy  with  the  plural  form 
"a  few  of  us,"  which  every  one  admits  to  be  plural.  If,  however,  we  are  thinking  of  a 
definite  number,  even  when  we  use  the  general  phrases  "a  large  number,"  or  "a  small  num- 
ber," a  singular  verb  should  be  used. 

Another  class  of  nouns  which  gives  difficulty  is  the  so  called  collective  nouns,  such  as 
people,  crowd,  army,  multitude,  etc.  These  words  are  followed  either  by  the  singular  or  by 
the  plural  form  of  the  verb,  according  as  we  think  of  the  collection  as  a  single  body,  or  a 
number  of  individuals  in  a  group.  Thus  we  should  certainly  say,  "The  army  is  encamped  on 
the  plain,"  and  equally  clearly  we  would  say,  "People  say  it  is  not  true." 

The  form  of  the  verb  should  show  the  nature  of  the  subject.  The  correct  form  is  the 
one  that  expresses  our  thought  with  logical  exactness.  If  we  use  the  singular  form  of  the 
verb  it  should  mean  that  we  wish  to  refer  to  the  subject  as  a  single  object,  but  if  we  use 
the  plural  form  it  should  show  that  we  are  thinking  of  all  the  various  single  objects  that  go 
to  make  up  the  whole,  and  that  we  are  thinking  of  each  as  acting  alone. 

Nothing  demonstrates  better  than  this  that  grammar  is  a  matter  of  logical  relation- 
ships of  words  and  phrases  used  to  express  ideas.  Violations  of  grammar  arise  more  from 
carelessness  than  from  anything  else,  and  the  study  of  correct  language  should  be,  not  a  study 
of  rules,  but  a  study  of  the  exact  meaning  of  words,  and  their  exact  logical  relations  to  other 
words  in  the  accurate  expression  of  ideas. 


*  But  some  people  say,  "He  don't  do  it"  lor   'He  doesn't  do  k,'  though  they  would  not  say 
"He  do  not  do  It." 


LESSON  IX  (Continued).     More  Exercises  on  Capital  Letters. 

Would  you  capitalize  titles  of  books,  and  why?  What  words  would  you  capitalize  in 
titles?  What  would  you  do  about  the  titles  of  chapters?  Decide  these  matters  by  direct 
observation.  Rules  are  unnecessary.  Bring  in  five  titles  of  books  and  five  titles  of  chapters 
properly  capitalized,  and  indicate  the  rule  for  choosing  the  words  to  capitalize. 

Do  you  capitalize  the  days  of  the  week,  the  days  of  the  month,  the  months,  the  seasons? 

When  or  why  would  you  capitalize  "the  North"  or  "the  West,"  "the  Orient"  or  "the 
North  Pole"? 

Make  a  list  of  fifteen  proper  adjectives  that  ought  to  be  capitalized. 

Do  you  know  any  single  letters  that  by  custom  are  always  written  as  capitals  when  they 
are  words?  There  are  two  such.  Can  you  think  of  any  reason  why  they  should  be  thus 
written.  Can  you  think  of  any  circumstances  under  which  they  would  be  written  as  small 
letters. 

Is  the  word  "oh"  written  with  a  capital  when  it  comes  in  the  middle  of  a  sentence? 

If  you  address  the  president  of  a  company  who  is  also  a  member  of  Congress  and  has 
the  degree  of  doctor  of  philosophy  from  a  university,  how  would  you  indicate  all  his  titles? 
Write  out  such  an  address. 

In  what  ways  may  capital  letters  be  used  for  emphasis  in  a  business  letter?  There  are 
two  distinct  ways,  when  all  the  letters  are  capitals  and  when  only  the  first  letter  is  a  capital. 
Illustrate  from  observation  the  proper  use  of  each. 

How  would  you  justify  the  capitals  in  a  sales  letter  reading  as  follows : 

"Term  Life  Insurance  is  now  written  at  practically  the  same  proportionate  cost  as  is 
Fire  Insurance. 

"You  never  would  permit  a  valuable  building  to  go  uninsured  against  loss  by  fire. 
Why  should  you  insure  the  PROPERTY  which  is  the  product  of  your  life  work,  and  let 
the  LIFE  that  produces  the  property  go  uninsured? 

"I  take  the  liberty  of  inclosing  herewith  a  statement  for  a  Convertible  Term  Policy 
which  I  know  will  prove  of  interest  to  you,  as  it  has  these  great  advantages : 

"1.    It  gives  you  excellent  protection  at  the  very  lowest  premium; 

"2.  It  grants  you  the  option  of  exchanging  the  policy  at  any  time  for  any  other  con- 
tract issued  by  the  Company  without  medical  examination." 

Can  you  decide  from  the  above  whether  paragraphs  begin  with  capital  letters  when 
they  do  not  start  with  the  beginning  of  a  sentence?  An  excellent  example  of  this  may  be 
found  on  page  250  of  "How  to  Do  Business  by  Letter  and  Advertising"  and  another  on 
page  135  of  "How  to  Do  Business  by  Letter  and  Training  Course  in  Conversational 
English." 

Give  three  examples  of  a  direct  quotation  requiring  capital  letters,  and  three  examples 
of  an  indirect  quotation  that  does  not  require  capital  letters. 

Give  an  example  of  a  formal  statement  not  quoted  that  begins  with  a  capital  letter  in 
the  middle  of  a  sentence. 

Write  the  following  abbreviations  with  correct  capitalization :  a.  m.,  f.  o.  bv  11. iL,  lbsn 
i.  e.,  p.  o.,  m.  c.,  m.  p.,  ph.  d.,  y.  m.  c.  a.,  17st  st. 

Write  correctly  the  following  display  advertising  head  for  a  form  letter: 

The  most  wonderful  discovery  of  the  age 

THE  ECONOMY  JAR 

For  meats,  vegetables,  and  fruits 

Kerr  Glass  mfg  co. 

Are  Roman  numerals  always  capitalized?  Look  at  the  paging  of  the  introductory  matter 
in  an  English  book. 

Write  the  following  citation  correctly :  Par.  3,  sec.  4,  ch.  vi,  vol.  iii.  Also  this :  part  II. 
act  V,  book  9. 

(OVER) 


EXERCISES   ON   WORDS   OFTEN   MISUSED 

See  Dictionary  of  Errors,  page  100,  or  How  to  Do  Business  by  Letter,  pp.  43,  48. 

Do  you  pay  "compliments"  or  "complements"? 

What  does  "congregate"  mean?     Why  is  "congregate  together"  wrong? 

Give  sentences  in  which  "continual"  and  "continuous"  are  correctly  used. 

Do  you  "co-operate  with  your  teacher"  or  "together  with  her"? 

Write  sentences  using  correctly  "corporeal"  and  "corporal." 

Do  you  "counsel"  with  a  friend  or  teacher,  or  "council"?     Does  the  head  of  a  school 
or  business  call  a  "counsel"  or  a  "council"? 

Is  a  true  story  "credible"  or  "creditable"?    What  is  "creditable"? 

Mention  some  of  the  "customs"  of  your  home  and  some  of  your  own  "habits." 

Do  you  "demean"  yourself  well?     When,  where,  and  how? 

Is  it  right  to  say  "He  died  with  scarlet  fever"? 

What  word  should  follow  "differ"  or  "different"? 

Is  there  "dirt"  on  the  floor?     Is  there  "dirt"  in  the  road?    Would  that  which  is  "earth" 
in  the  road  become  "dirt"  in  the  house? 

What  word  should  follow  "disagree"  ? 

Write  sentences  using  correctly  "disposition"  and  "disposal." 

What  is  the  difference  between  "divers"  and  "diverse,"  both  in  meaning  and  in  pro- 
nunciation ? 

What  is  "don't"  a  contraction  for?     "Doesn't"?    In  what  positions  is  "don't"  frequently 
misused? 

When  should  you  use  "dozen"  as  the  plural  of  "dozen"  and  when  "dozens"? 

Why  not  say  "I  have  drank"? 

Write  sentences  using  correctly  "one  another"  and  "each  other." 


Lesson  IX,  page  4) 


LESSON   X.     Singular   and   Plural. 

Observe  that  pronouns  must  agree  in  person  and  number  with  the  nouns  to  which  they 
refer. 

If  in  doubt  as  to  whether  any  of  the  following  nouns  are  singular  or  plural,  look  them 
jtp  in  the  dictionary.  Not  all  nouns  ending  in  s  are  plural. 

Rewrite  the  following  sentences  with  the  correct  form : 

The  United   States    (is — are)    a  world  power. 

Politics    (ruin — ruins)    many  a  man. 

Athletics   (is — are)   approved  by  the  college. 

I  had  a  pair  of  pincers.     Have  you  seen   (them — it)  ? 

(This — these)  news   (is — are)  bad. 

Tidings  of  the  battle   (has — have)  just  arrived. 

Their  nuptials    (were — was)    celebrated   at   noon. 

(This — these)  assets   (are — is)   all  there   (is — are). 

By    (this — these)   means  he  got  the  election. 

His   means    (were — was)    limited. 

His  ethics   (are — is)    not  good. 

Ethics    (demand — demands)    a  different  rule. 

The  proceeds    (don't — does   n't)    go  to  the   society. 

General    Grant's    tactics    (is — are)    commended   by   historians. 

The  society  of  the  alumni   (are — is)  holding  (its — their)  meeting. 

Such    (a)    phenomena    (are — is)    startling. 

(This — these)   analyses   (are — is)   inaccurate. 

I  cannot  go  by  such  criteria  as   (this — these). 

He   found  the  lower   strata    (was — were)    granite. 

(This — these)    curricula    (have — has)   nothing  practical  in   (it — them) 

(This — these)    hypothesis    (are — is)    not  well  founded. 

The  alumnse    (does  n't — don't)    approve  the  choice. 

He    (don't — doesn't)    claim  to   eradicate   all   the    (bacteria — bacterium). 

Such  a    (phenomena — phenomenon)    is  unusual. 


LESSON  X  (Continued).    Punctuation— the  Full  Stop. 

THE  PERIOD. — Ordinary  sentences,  if  complete,  are  ended  with  a  period.  A  group  of 
words  cannot  end  with  a  period  unless  it  contains  a  principal  subject  and  a  principal  pred- 
icate, expressed  or  understood.  Groups  of  words  which  omit  subject  or  predicate  are  not 
complete  sentences,  and  if  used  at  all  they  must  be  treated  as  exclamations  and  be  followed 
by  exclamation  points.  Carlyle  and  some  others  ignore  this  rule. 

(The  old  rule  that  every  complete  sentence  begins  with  a  capital  letter  and  ends  with 
a  period  is  not  strictly  correct,  for  many  sentences  grammatically  complete  in  every  way 
end  with  colons,  semi-colons,  and  even  with  commas  when  conjunctions  are  clearly  implied, 
if  the  ideas  are  closely  connected  with  those  in  adjoining  sentences.  Such  connected  sen- 
tences cannot  in  most  cases  be  reckoned  compound  sentences). 

Every  abbreviation  should  be  followed  by  a  period.  Examples :  D.D.,  Mr.,  LL.  D., 
e.  g.,  lb.,  Messrs. 

Formerly  the  Roman  numerals  (I,  II,  III,  etc.),  were  followed  by  periods,  but  that 
usage  is  now  being  discontinued. 

EXCLAMATION  AND  INTERROGATION  POINTS. — Of  course  every  direct  question  should  be 
followed  by  a  mark  of  interrogation,  and  every  clear  exclamation  by  an  exclamation  point. 

Note  that  indirect  questions  are  not  followed  by  the  interrogation  point.  Example :  He 
asked  me  if  I  would  go. 

If  interjections  are  used  in  connection  with  other  words,  the  exclamation  point  should 
be  placed  only  at  the  end  of  the  whole  exclamation.  Each  point  denotes  a  separate  exclama- 
tion. Example :  Alas,  I  do  not  know  where  food  is  to  be  found ! 

Parts  of  sentences  which  lack  either  a  subject  or  a  predicate  or  both,  if  used  at  all, 
should  be  treated  as  exclamations  and  be  followed  by  the  exclamation  point.  Example :  To 
think  that  I  should  do  such  a  thing! 

Whenever  a  direct  question  is  raised,  an  interrogation  point  should  indicate  the  fact. 
So  sometimes  we  have  an  interrogation  point  inclosed  in  parenthesis,  equivalent  to  an 
interrogative  sentence;  and  after  double  dashes  indicating  that  a  sentence  has  come  to  an 
abrupt  termination,  the  questioning  intonation  of  the  portion  of  the  sentence  given  must  be 
indicated  by  a  question  mark  after  the  dash.  The  same  rule  applies  to  exclamations. 

Example:     "You  were  going  to  tell  me "? 

EXERCISES. 

We  have  already  studied  the  sentence  and  how  careless  writers  run  two  sentences 
together  with  only  a  comma  between. 

Do  you  know  the  difference  between  a  subject  and  predicate  expressed  and  those  that 
are  only  implied?  What  are  the  subjects  and  predicates  expressed  or  implied  in  the  fol- 
lowing: "We  are  going  to  give  you  another  good  chance.  The  chance  is  Radford's  Big 
Weeklies.  Seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  of  them  every  week."  Should  the  last  group 
of  words  be  followed  by  an  exclamation  point? 

When  a  letter  ends,  "Thanking  you  for  your  kindness  in  this  matter,  Very  sincerely 
yours,"  what  subject  and  predicate  are  implied?  Are  they  clearly  implied? 

When  a  letter  begins  "Replying  to  your  favor  of  the  16th  inst.,"  stopping  there  with 
a  period,  would  you  say  the  subject  and  predicate  are  implied?  What  are  they  implied 
from?  Is  there  any  context  from  which  they  can  be  implied  when  the  phrase  begins  the 
letter?  Would  you  be  justified  in  using  an  exclamation  point  after  such  a  group  of  words 
as  this? 

Is  an  exclamation  point  needed  in  the  following? 

"  'If  I  had  only  done  it  sooner'  exclaims  the  man  who  has  taken  no  precaution  against 
fire  till  the  fire  occurs."  Is  the  quoted  part  a  complete  sentence,  or  does  the  word  "if" 
seem  to  make  it  a  sort  of  subordinate  clause?  Or  is  "if"  in  this  place  an  exclamatory  word? 

(OVER) 


What  is  the  exclamatory  word  in  the  following?  "How  changed  in  these  new  days!" 
Mention  several  other  exclamatory  words.  When  you  have  an  exclamatory  word  in  a 
sentence  should  you  always  have  an  exclamation  point  at  the  end  of  the  expression? 

Give  an  example  of  the  point  used  after  single  exclamatory  words. 

Is  the  word  "Miss"  an  abbreviation  requiring  a  period  after  it?  Is  "per  cent"  an 
abbreviation  requiring  a  period?  (In  English  it  is  not  now  considered  an  abbreviation, 
though  in  Latin  it  was  "per  centum"  and  when  the  "um"  was  left  off  a  period  took  its 
place.)  If  the  word  "Ass'n"  an  abbreviation  or  a  contraction?  Is  a  period  required  after 
it?  Is  "Bldg."  properly  treated  as  an  abbreviation  or  a  contraction?  (Answer:  For  con- 
venience in  business  usage,  it  is  an  abbreviation.) 

When  a  single  word  in  a  sentence  is  queried,  how  would  you  write  the  question  mark 
so  as  to  show  it  applied  only  to  that  one  word  or  phrase?  When  a  plain  statement  is  given 
the  tone  of  a  query,  how  is  the  query  indicated?  How  would  an  exclamatory  tone  be 
shown  in  such  a  connection?  Illustrate  each  of  these  points. 

Where  is  a  period  used  in  writing  figures  other  than  at  the  end  of  the  sentence?  What 
is  such  a  period  called?  Where  is  a  period  used  in  writing  money  as  figures? 

How  would  you  write  "seven  forty  ante  meridiem"  in  abbreviated  form,  with  figures? 

Do  you  find  the  period  used  in  modern  books  at  the  ends  of  lines  on  the  title-page  or 
after  chapter  headings?  Note  examples  in  three  different  books. 

EXERCISES   ON   WORDS   OFTEN   MISUSED 

See  Dictionary  of  Errors,  page  102,  or  How  to  Do  Business  by  Letter,  pages  49,  53. 

Why  is  "either  of  the  three"  wrong? 

Write  sentences  in  which  "elicit"  and  "illicit"  are  correctly  used. 

Give  examples  of  complete  sentences  with  "than"  and  "but"  used  after  "else." 

What  is  the  difference  between  an  "emigrant"  and  an  "immigrant"? 

Is  there  such  a  word  as  "enthuse"? 

Criticise  "Lincoln  was  equally  as  great." 

Is  "every  man,  woman,  and  child"  singular  or  plural? 

What  is  wrong  about  "everywheres"  ? 

What  part  of  speech  is  "except"  and  what  part  of  speech  is  "unless"?  Give  examples 
of  the  correct  and  incorrect  use  of  these  words, 

Can  you  expect  what  happened  yesterday?  What  can  you  expect  about  yesterday's 
happenings  ? 

What  is  the  difference  in  use  between  "farther"  and  "further"? 

What  is  wrong,  if  anything,  about  "As  I  was  passing  the  door  a  female  came  out"; 
"tie  was  descended  from  Alfred  in  the  female  line"? 

What  is  the  matter  with  "final  completion"? 

If  you  owe  a  boy  ten  cents,  is  it  a  "financial,"  "pecuniary,"  or  "monetary"  obligation? 
If  the  United  States  places  a  million  dollars  in  the  banks,  what  kind  of  an  operation  is  it? 

What  is  the'  correct  word  for  "firstly"  ? 

Is  it  proper  to  speak  of  a  stick  being  "fired  across  the  room"? 

What  is  the  matter  with  "Fix  the  furniture"? 

To  what  kinds  of  beings  are  the  following  group  words  properly  applied :  flock,  bevy, 
pack,  gang,  host,  shoal,  herd,  troop,  covey,  galaxy,  horde,  heap,  drove,  mob,  school,  congre- 
gation, corps,  band,  swarm,  crowd? 

(Lesson  X,  page  4) 


Extra  lesson  and  review :     Write  new  sentences  in  which  each  of  the  peculiar  words 
in  the  last  two  lessons  is  correctly  used.     Also  write  out  Exercise  IV,  page  44. 

LESSON   XI.     Participles. 

See  Grammar,  Chapter  VI,  pages  4/1-50. 
What  two  offices  does  a  participle  perform? 

Give  three  examples  of  an  infinitive  used  as  a  noun. 

Where  will  you  look  for  the  subject  of  the  verb  action  of  a  participle? 

In  what  way  are  participial  clauses  related  to  the  principal  subject  or  predicate? 

What  is  a  nominative  absolute?     Is  this  form  desirable?     Why  is  it  sometimes  used? 

Is  the  subject  of  a  participle  ever  in  the  objective  case? 

What  case  is  regularly  the  subject  of  an  infinitive? 

What  case  is  usually  the  subject  of  the  verb  action  in  a  participle  when  such  a  subject 
is  specially  expressed? 

Who  or  what  is  the  subject  of  the  action  expressed  in  the  participles  printed  in  italics 
-    in  the  following  sentences,  3'xl  what  is  the  grammatical  construction  of  these  participles? — 
Liking  the  country  as      e  did,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  buy  a  home. 

In  crossing  the  bridge  he  stumbled  and  fell. 

His  going  depends  on  my  staying. 

On  weighing  the  coffee  they  found  an  excess  of  fifty  pounds. 

Pushed  on  by  circumstances,  he  stumbled  into  wealth. 

I  could  not  keep  him  from  returning  last  night. 

They  prevented  his  coming. 

I  saw  many  birds  sitting  on  the  fence. 

Liking  money  is  no  sin. 

Answering  your  letter  just  at  hand,  I  am  compelled  to  say  no. 

Referring  to  your   statement  of  yesterday,  I   wish  to  say  I  entirely  disagree  with  you. 

He  was  a  man  named  Smythe  or  Browne. 

I  liked  his  taking  hold  of  the  work  so  readily. 


Grammar,  pp.  44-47.  Lesson  XL 

Many  writers  have  ranked  the  participle  as  a  separate  part  of  speech.  It  is  in  reality  a 
sort  of  hybrid,  half  verb  and  half  adjective,  and  may  become  a  noun.  The  infinitive  is  also  a 
curious  form  of  the  verb,  for  it  may  often  be  used  as  a  noun  and  is  interchangeable  to  some 
extent  with  the  present  participle. 

There  are  two  forms  of  the  participle,  the  present,  ending  in  ing,  and  the  past,  ending 
regularly  in  ed  (but  also  being  formed  with  other  endings).  The  infinitive  is  indicated  by 
the  preposition  to,  which  often  wholly  loses  its  character  as  a  preposition  in  introducing  one 
word  to  another,  and  serves  merely  as  the  sign  of  the  infinitive  mode  of  the  verb.  In  this 
case  the  infiinitive  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  verbal  noun. 

Examples:  Present  participle  as  simple  adjective — "The  boxing  parson  preached 
to-day." 

Past  participle  as  simple  adjective — "The  learned  doctor  delivered  the  address" ;  "The 
past  year  shows  a  good  report" ;  "The  work  begun  is  a  credit  to  the  town." 

Present  participle  as  noun — "By  signing  your  name  you  will  secure  your  rights" ;  "I 
like  riding/' 

Infinitive  as  noun — "To  be  good  is  to  be  wise." 

The  chief  office  of  the  infinitive  is  simply  to  complete  the  meaning  of  other  verbs, 
as  when  we  say,  "I  like  to  ride";  "He  is  going  to  do  it" ;  etc.  Here  the  assertion  that  is  made 
in  regard  to  the  subject  is  not  complete  until  the  infinitive  is  added,  and  we  may  look  on 
the  first  verb  as  more  or  less  of  an  auxiliary.  In  fact,  "He  will  do  it"  and  "He  is  going  to 
do  it"  are  very  much  alike,  and  grammarians  look  on  the  do  after  will  as  an  infinitive  with 
the  sign  (to)  omitted.  However,  in  all  cases  in  which  the  to  is  expressed  we  are  accustomed 
to  treat  the  infinitive  as  separate  from  the  verb,  and  picture  it  in  our  diagrams  as  an  ordinary 
prepositional  phrase. 

He          ||          is  going 

I    " 


But  the  infinitive  may  have  a  subject  of  its  own,  which  will  always  be  in  the  objective 
case.  In  such  a  relation  the  to  is  commonly  omitted,  as  in  "I  shall  make  him  do  it." 

Here  the  whole  phrase,  "him  do  it,"  may  be  regarded  as  taking  the  place  of  a  noun  and 
forming  the  object  of  shall  make,  though  it  would  not  be  altogether  improper  to  place  it 
below  and  connect  it  with  shall  make  by  a  dotted  line,  after  the  manner  of  a  subordinate  sen- 
tence. 

In  such  cases  as  "To  be  good  is  to  be  wise,"  the  to  merely  introduces  the  verbal  phrases 
which  serve  as  nouns,  and  does  not  introduce  the  verb  to  anything  in  particular. 

Fully  to  explain  such  a  sentence  grammatically  and  logically,  however,  we  must  re- 
flect that  a  personal  subject -is  implied,  such  as  "any  one,"  "any  person."  The  adjective  good 
and  the  adjective  wise  really  qualify  this  indefinite  implied  personality. 

We  see,  however,  that  while  acting  as  a  verbal  noun,  an  infinitive  may  exercise  all  the 
qualities  of  a  verb  in  taking  predicate  modifiers,  either  nouns  or  adjectives;  and  it  may  also 
be  modified  by  adverbs. 

The  participle  may  also  exercise  the  functions  of  verbs  in  the  same  way,  as  in  the 
sentence,  "I  found  him  rapidly  writing  letters." 


LESSON  XI  (Continued).    Punctuation — the  Comma. 

The  comma  is  used  to  separate  words  so  you  can  tell  where  one  phrase  or  clause 
begins  and  another  ends.  Unless  you  can  develop  a  sort  of  instinct  for  recognizing  phrase 
and  clause  groups  so  you  will  never,  NEVER  stick  a  comma  into  the  middle  of  one,  and 
never  leave  out  a  comma  that  would  help  the  reader  from  running  together  two  groups 
of  words  which  do  not  belong  together,  you  have  not  mastered  the  art  of  punctuation. 

GENERAL  RULE.  Never  use  a  comma  that  does  not  help  to  make  the  meaning  clearer 
by  separating  groups  of  words  that  otherwise  might  be  confused  even  momentarily  by 
the  hasty  reader. 

This  is  the  great  negative  rule.  We  will  now  illustrate  five  positive  rules.  In  addition 
we  take  it  for  granted  that  you  will  always  use  a  comma  whenever  you  see  clearly  how 
it  will  prevent  confusion  and  help  you  express  your  meaning,  whether  you  can  give  a 
rule  for  it  or  not. 

Rule  1. — Several  words,  all  of  which  modify  equally,  or  stand  in  the  same  relation- 
ship to,  some  other  word,  are  separated  by  commas. 

Examples:  He  was  a  great,  good,  noble  man.  (The  three  adjectives  great,  good,  and 
noble,  all  modify  man  equally.  The  commas  would  be  used  just  the  same  if  the  last 
two  were  connected  by  and,  as  we  may  see  in  the  preceding  sentence,  though  some  writers 
inconsistently  omit  the  comma  before  and.  The  old-fashioned  idea  was  that  in  a  sense 
the  comma  took  the  place  of  an  omitted  and,  as  it  sometimes  seems  to  take  the  place  of  an 
omitted  verb ;  but  now  the  comma  is  insisted  on  before  the  and  to  prevent  confusion  in  such 
a  case  as  the  following:  The  three  couples  were  Mr.  James  and  Miss  Barber,  Mr.  Lang 
and  Miss  Harte,  and  Mr.  Jennings  and  Miss  Fairfax.  Without  the  comma  after  "Harte" 
there  would  obviously  be  confusion.  If,  however,  there  are  only  two,  and  they  are  "con- 
nected by  and,  or  if  there  are  several  not  specially  emphasized  or  contrasted,  all  con- 
nected by  and,  no  comma  is  used;  as  in,  "He  was  a  great  and  good  man,"  or,  "He 
was  a  great  and  good  and  noble  man." 

Men,  women,  and  children  ran  for  their  lives.  (Here  the  three  nouns  men,  women, 
and  children,  are  all  equally  the  subject  of  ran.) 

N.  B. — When  adjectives  modify  a  noun  unequally;  one  modifying  the  meaning  of  the 
noun  as  first  qualified  by  another  adjective,  no  comma  is  used  to  separate  the  two 
adjectives. 

Example:  The  poor  old  man  ran  for  his  life.  (Here  poor  modifies  the  meaning 
of  old  man,  not  man  alone,  and  the  modifies  man  as  first  modified  by  poor  and  old.) 

(The  is  never  set  off  by  a  comma  when  it  is  one  of  the  several  adjectives  modifying 
a  noun.) 

Rule  2.  A  subordinate  sentence,  or  a  participial  phrase,  is  set  off  from  the  main 
sentence  by  a  comma  or  commas  if  it  is  merely  explanatory,  but  if  it  is  restrictive  no 
commas  are  required. 

(Note. — This  is  the  most  difficult  and  important  rule  we  shall  give,  and  it  should 
be  thoroughly  mastered.) 

Examples.  There  is  the  man  who  provoked  him.  (The  subordinate  sentence  "who 
provoked  him"  modifying  man  is  absolutely  necessary  to  the  full  meaning,  that  is,  it 
restricts  the  meaning  of  man  instead  of  being  merely  an  explanatory  addition.  Therefore 
no  comma  is  required.) 

Do  you  remember  Jenny,  who  was  at  the  lake  last  summer?  (In  this  sentence  the 
meaning  would  be  complete  if  we  stopped  with  Jenny  and  placed  a  period  after  that 
word.  The  subordinate  sentence  merely  throws  in  an  additional  explanation,  and  therefore 
is  set  off  by  a  comma.) 

(OVER) 


EXERCISES   ON   WORDS   OFTEN   MISUSED 

See  Dictionary  of  Errors,  page  105,  or  How  to  Do  Business  by  Letter,  pages  53,  60, 
61,  73. 

What  is  the  difference  between  a  friend  and  an  acquaintance? 

Explain  the  special  meanings  of  "generally,"  "usually,"  "frequently,"  and  "commonly." 

What  do  you  call  a  woman  who  writes  books  or  poetry? 

When  is  it  proper  to  say  "gent"? 

In  order  to  say  you  have  "got  a  book,"  what  do  you  have  to  do? 

Give  a  sentence  containing  "guess"  correctly  used. 

What  should  you  write  instead  of  "Had  I  have  known  it"? 

What  alternative  form  for  "would  rather"?     Is  it  correct? 

When  should  you  use  "hanged"  ? 

Why  is  "not"  incorrect  with  "hardly"? 

Give  examples  of  things  that  are  "wholesome,"  things  that  are  "healthy,"  and  things 
that  are  "healthful." 

Why  is  "from  hence"  wrong? 

What  is  the  difference  between  "human"  and  "humane"? 

Give  an  example  of  the  correct  use  of  "illy." 

Give  examples  of  the  correct  use  of  "in"  and  "into."    What  does  each  imply? 

Do  you  live  "in"  a  street  or  "on"  it?  Did  you  drop  your  books  "in"  the  street  or  "on" 
the  street? 

What  is  the  difference  between  "invent"  and  "discover"? 
What  is  the  difference  between  "involve"  and  "implicate"? 
Is  "a"  ever  proper  after  "kind  of"? 
Why  is  "saleslady"  ridiculous? 

Explain  the  difference  between  "lay"  and  "lie,"  "lain"  and  "laid."  Which  one  must 
always  have  an  object?  Which  one  never  has  an  object?  What  is  the  past  tense  of  "lie"? 
Of  "lay"?  The  past  participle  of  each?  Give  examples  of  the  correct  use  of  each  in  the 
different  tenses. 

(Lesson  XI,  page  4) 


LESSON  XII.     Participles. 

in  the  last  lesson  the  participles  are  all  used  correctly:  in  this  lesson  many  of  them 
are  used  incorrectly. 

Note.  There  are  three  kinds  of  verbals  in  ing,  participles  which  are  simple  adjectives 
modifying  nouns,  though  like  a  verb  they  may  take  an  object,  participles  which  like  DOUPS 
may  be  objects  of  prepositions  or  verbs  or  subjects  of  verbs  and  like  verbs  take  objects  of 
their  own  and  are  modified  by  adverbs,  and  verbal  nouns  which  are  modified  by  adjectives 
and  then  do  not  take  objects,  the  verb  quality  being  completely  lost.  Examples:  Participle 
used  as  adjective:  Liking  the  work,  he  accepted.  Participle  as  verbal  noun  (called  a 
gerund)  :  His  doing  it  so  nicely  was  what  pleased  me.  Pure  verbal  noun:  The  doing  of 
it  cost  him  an  effort.  When  a  word  in  ing  is  preceded  by  "the"'  or  any  adjective,  it  can- 
not take  an  object  but  must  be  followed  by  a  preposition  like  any  other  noun. 

Correct  the  following  sentences,  rearranging  them  if  necessary : 

Answering  your  letter  of  the  6th  inst,  you  will  find  the  sample  you  wish  enclosed. 

Referring  to  our  conversation  yesterday,  why  should  n't  my  proposition  be  presented  to 
the  company? 

I  did  not  like  him  to  call  me  so  loudly. 

Quick  calling  off  the  numbers  will  be  the  best  plan. 

I  liked  him  talking  to  her  so  pleasantly. 

fitting  on   the   fence  we  saw  three  tiny  birds. 

Holding  the   revolver  up  to  see  if  it  was  loaded,  it  went  off  and  shot  him. 

Tearing  down  and  building  up,  making  mistakes  and  correcting  them,  much  money  is 
wasted. 

Speaking  of  Henry,  did  you  hear  that  story  Alice  told  about  his  proposing  to  her? 

Granting  all  that,  what  can  the  company  really  do? 

His  mother  cannot  prevent  him  from  seeing  her  often. 

I  like  hir-  for  being  so  frank. 

Seeing  what  he  was  up  to,  I  told  them  they  ought  to  have  called  out  to  him. 

Loved  by  all,  honored  and  revered,  it  was  a  pity  he  should  disgrace  himself  in  his 
old  age. 

Diagram  the  corrected  sentences  on  the  back  of  this  sheet. 


Grammar,  pp.  47-50.  Lesson  XII. 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  subject  noun  and  the  assertive  verb  are  both  indispen- 
sable to  any  expression  of  thought.  We  may  realize  how  far-reaching  and  important  this  prin- 
ciple is  when  we  know  that  every  verb,  whatever  its  form,  even  the  participle  and  the  in- 
finitive in  so  far  as  they  exercise  any  of  the  functions  of  verbs,  must  have  subjects  of  some 
kind,  expressed  or  implied.  If  an  infinitive  is  used  to  complete  a  verb,  we  look  back  through 
the  auxiliary  verb  and  find  the  real  subject  of  the  action  or  state  expressed  by  the  infinitive, 
in  the  subject  of  the  sentence.  Thus  in  the  sentence,  "I  should  like  to  do  it,"  the  logical  sub- 
ject of  the  act  of  doing  is  /.  If  we  say,  "I  should  like  to  have  him  do  it,"  the  subject  of 
have  is  logically  /,  and  of  do,  him. 

The  same  is  true  of  p'articiples.  Thus  in  the  sentence,  "While  sitting  on  my  door- 
step yesterday,  I  caught  sight  of  the  most  beautiful  butterfly  in  the  world,"  Here  sitting  is  a 
participle  evidently  modifying  the  subject  of  the  sentence,  /.  If  we  change  the  form  of  the 
sentence  so  as  to  make  it  read,  "While  sitting  on  my  doorstep  yesterday,  my  notice  was 
attracted  to  the  most  beautiful  butterfly  in  the  world,"  we  perceive  that  the  real  subject  of 
the  participle  verb  sitting  is  hard  to  find.  It  is  perhaps  implied  in  the  possessive  my,  but 
it  would  be  out  of  the  question,  grammatically,  to  attach  sitting  to  my.  If  we  should  say, 
"While  sitting  on  the  doorstep  yesterday,  the  most  beautiful  butterfly  in  the  world  attracted 
my  notice,"  we  would  seem  to  imply  that  the  butterfly  was  sitting,  which  is  of  course  absurd. 
The  sentences  are  manifestly  imperfect  from  a  logical  point  of  view. 

Even  if  the  sentence  is  so  constructed  that  it  is  not  difficult  to  account  for  all  the 
members,  still  if  the  subject  of  the  infinitive  or  participle  is  obscured,  the  sentence  is  im- 
perfect. Thus  if  we  say,  "To  relieve  him  of  all  responsibility,  he  was  given  a  written 
statement  by  the  members  of  the  firm,"  To  relieve  is  evidently  a  simple  qualifier  of  the 
verb  was  given,  but  whatever  act  was  performed  in  relieving  was  not  by  he,  the  subject 
of  was  given,  but  by  members,  which  appears  in  a  subordinate  phrase.  The  sentence  is 
logically  imperfect,  though  every  word  of  it  can  be  parsed.  The  same  is  true  of  the  sen- 
tence, "By  doing  so,  the  matter  will  be  cleared  up  by  him." 

There  are  various  ways  of  legitimately  relieving  this  situation,  which  we  will  now  ex- 
plain : 

First,  there  is  what  is  called  the  nominative  absolute.  A  participle  may  stand  as  an 
independent  verb  with  a  nominative  case  as  its  subject,  though  always  in  a  dependent  rela- 
tion to  some  principal  sentence,  as  in  "The  wind  blowing  furiously,  the  boat  was  overset;" 
"He  knowing  that,  I  had  no  choice  but  to  act  as  I  did."  The  wind  is  subject  of  the 
participle  blowing,  and  He  is  the  subject  of  the  independent  participle  knowing.  Both  he 
and  wind  are  spoken  of  as  independent  nominatives,  though  they  are  no  more  independent 
than  any  other  subjects  of  verbs.  It  would  be  more  just  to  speak  of  the  participles  as 
independent  in  their  use,  for  here  they  perform  the  offices  of  an  ordinary  verb  even  to  having 
a  separate  subject  in  the  nominative  case.  This  use  is  not  favored  by  the  best  critics  or 
writers,  and  evidently  grew  up  because  the  instincts  of  the  mind  sought  to  supply  a  suitable 
subject  for  the  participle  when  no  implied  subject  was  in  sight.  This  is  a  bungling  method  of 
relieving  the  logical  incompleteness  of  such  sentences  as  we  discussed  in  the  preceding  para- 
graph. 

The  subject  of  the  participle  may  be  implied  in  a  possessive,  as  in  the  sentence,  "By 
his  doing  that,  the  situation  was  relieved."  Here  the  character  of  the  participle  as  noun  is 
emphasized  by  the  presence  of  a  possessive  used  as  a  simple  adjective  modifier;  but  the 
subject  of  the  assertive  power  in  the  participle  is  clear. 

The  participle,  unlike  the  infinitive,  never  takes  the  objective  case  as  its  subject  if  this 
can  be  avoided.  So  we  should  say,  "I  could  not  prevent  his  doing  it,"  rather  than  "I  could 
not  prevent  him  doing  it,"  though  we  may  say  correctly  enough,  "I  could  not  prevent  him 
from  doing  it." 

We  have  already  given  an  example  of  an  indefinite  subject  being  implied  when  an 
infinitive  is  used  in  a  general  sense.  The  subject  of  the  participle  may  be  implied  in  the  same 
way  when  it  is  general  or-  indefinite,  as  in  "Speaking  of  the  President,  what  did  you  think 
of  his  manifesto?"  "Granting  all  that,  still  how  do  you  account  for  the  strange  circum- 
stances?" Granting  and  speaking  are  evidently  independent,  with  such  subjects  as  we,  you, 
etc.,  implied.  Unless  the  subject  is  clearly  implied,  this  method  is  objectionable. 


LESSON  XII  (Continued).    Punctuation— Further  Study  of  the  Comma. 

The  man  who  has  mastered  his  subject  will  rule  in  his  profession.  (This  is  another 
case  of  a  restrictive  subordinate  sentence.  If  it  were  omitted,  the  remaining  parts  of  the 
sentence  would  make  nonsense.  The  relative  clause  restricts  the  meaning  of  man — it  is 
not  any  man,  but  "the  man  who  has  mastered  his  profession.") 

That  man  yonder,  who  was  a  millionaire  last  year,  is  almost  ready  to  commit  suicide. 
(If  the  subordinate  sentence  were  omitted,  the  words  left  would  still  make  complete 
sense.  The  relative  clause  is  thrown  in  by  way  of  additional  explanation,  and  therefore 
is  set  off  by  commas.) 

I  love  the  lake  because  it  is  so  beautiful. 

I  love  the  lake,  because  it  is  so  beautiful. 

(The  use  or  omission  of  the  comma  in  the  preceding  sentence  indicates  a  difference 
in  meaning.  If  the  emphasis  is  on  the  subordinate  sentence  "because  it  is  so  beautiful," 
no  comma  is  needed;  but  if  the  emphasis  is  on  the  main  sentence,  "I  love  the  lake,"  and 
the  subordinate  sentence  is  thrown  in  merely  by  way  of  additional  explanation,  a  comma 
should  be  used.) 

I  know  where  you  are  hiding. 

I  am  going  over  there,  where  you  are  hiding. 

(In  the  first  sentence  the  subordinate  clause  is  a  necessary  part  of  the  sense, 
and  so  is  not  set  off  by  commas,  while  in  the  second  "where  you  are  hiding"  merely 
explains  there.) 

I  know  a  man  called  John. 

Do  you  see  that  tree,  just  hanging  over  the  edge  of  the  mountain? 

(In  the  first  sentence  the  participial  phrase  "called  John"  restricts  the  meaning  of 
man,  and  is  absolutely  necessary  to  the  sentence.  Therefore  no  comma  is  needed.  In 
the  second  sentence,  the  participial  phrase  is  additional  and  explanatory,  and  the  sentence 
would  be  complete  without  it.  Therefore  it  is  set  off  by  a  comma.  If  that  tree  had 
been  the  tree  the  phrase  would  have  been  restrictive,  as  it  would  have  been  required  to 
indicate  what  tree.  As  it  is,  the  word  that  implies  that  the  tree  is  pointed  out  by  the 
speaker,  and  the  following  clause  is  thrown  in  by  way  of  explanation.) 

Rule  3.  Subordinate  sentences  and  phrases  which  are  transposed  from  their  natural 
position  in  the  sentence  are  usually  set  off  by  commas. 

Examples :     Where  I  go,  there  ye  shall  come  also. 

(In  this  sentence  the  natural  position  for  "where  I  go"  would  be  after  the  verb  and 
there  would  then  be  omitted.) 

After  due  consideration,   they  decided  to  give  their  notes. 

(A  prepositional  phrase  naturally  follows  the  word  it  modifies,  in  this  case  the  verb 
decided.  As  it  is  transposed  to  a  place  before  the  subject,  it  is  set  off  by  a  comma.) 

If  the  transposed  clause  or  phrase  is  short  and  no  confusion  is  possible,  the  comma 
should  be  omitted. 

Example:     Before  I  go  I  will  return  the  book. 

Rule  4.  All  words  and  phrases  thrown  in  by  way  of  explanation,  or  used  independently 
in  a  sentence,  are  set  off  by  commas. 

Examples:  I  prefer,  on  the  whole,  to  have  my  own  way.  (Here  the  phrase  "on  the 
whole"  follows  the  word  it  modifies  in  natural  order,  but  as  it  is  thrown  in  merely  by 
way  of  explanation,  it  is  set  off  by  commas.) 

Yes,  John,  I  shall  go  to-morrow.  (In  this  sentence  John  is  used  independently,  as  it 
is  the  name  of  the  person  addressed;  hence  it  is  set  off  by  commas.) 

Christ,  the  great  teacher,  said,  "Come  unto  me."  (The  words  "the  great  teacher" 
are  thrown  in  to  explain  Christ.  Here  teacher  is  a  noun  in  apposition  with  the  noun 
Christ.) 

(OVER) 


EXERCISES   ON   WORDS    OFTEN   MISUSED 

See  Dictionary  of  Errors,  page  109,  or  How  to  Do  Business  by  Letter,  pages  73,  79. 

What  is  the  difference  between  "teach"  and  "learn"?  Give  examples  of  the  correct  use 
of  each  word. 

Is  "sideways"  correct?    What  is  better? 

What  things  are  "lengthy,"  and  what  are  "long"? 

Mention  five  things  with  which  "less"  is  correct,  five  with  which  "fewer"  is  required. 

To  what  sort  of  things  is  one  "liable"? 

Give  sentences  illustrating  the  correct  use  of  "like"  and  "as." 

What  is  the  difference  between  "loan"  and  "lend"?     Give  examples  of  the  correct  use 
of  each. 

Give  an  example  of  the  correct  use  of  "locate"   (look  up  in  the  dictionary).  For  what 
word  is  it  often  incorrectly  used? 

Is  "look"  followed  by  an  adjective  or  an  adverb?    Why? 

Give  an  example  of  the  correct  use  of  "lots." 

Mention  half  a  dozen  things  you  "love,"  and  as  many  that  you  only  "like." 

What  is  the  difference  between  "luxurious"  and  "luxuriant"?  Give  illustrative  sentences. 

What  is  the  difference  between  a  "majority"  and  a  "plurality"  in  voting? 

In  asking  the  teacher  for  permission  to  leave  the  room,  do  you  say  "may"  or  "can"? 
Is  "may"  to  be  used  with  a  negative?     Give  an  example  of  your  own. 

Is  "means"  singular  or  plural?     Give  illustrative  sentences. 

What  is  the  plural  of  "memorandum"?     Use  the  word  in  a  sentence  correctly. 

What  is  the  difference  between  "You  are  mistaken"  and  "You  mistake"  according  to  the 
strict  meaning  of  the  words? 

Why  is  "more  perfect"  absurd?  What  is  meant  when  this  combination  is  used? 
How  should  "most"  be  written  when  it  stands  for  "almost"? 
What  is  the  difference  between   "mutual"  and  common"? 

(Lesson  XII,  page  4) 


Extra  lesson  and  review :     Write  out  Exercise  V,  Grammar,  page  50. 

LESSON  XIII.     Tense. 

See  Grammar,  sections  48,  49  and  50,  pp.  51-54. 

What  is  tense?     (Look  the  word  up  in  the  dictionary.) 

What  three  simple  tenses  are  there? 

What  tenses  are  indicated  by  the  auxiliary  "have"?     Give  illustrations. 

What  tense  indicates  present  time?     What  time  up  to  the  present? 

What  tens*   indicates  time  entirely  past?     What  action  completed  at  some  fixed  time 
in  the  past? 

What  is   the  difference   in  meaning  between  the  future  and  the  future  perfect  tenses? 

Rewrite  the  following  sentences,  using  the  correct  tense: 
I    (did — have  done)   the  work  already. 

He   (did  n't — has  n't)  arrived  yet. 

My  friend   (came — has  come). 

It    (snowed — has  snowed)    every  day  for  the  past  two  weeks. 

He    (lived — has   lived)    here   since   spring. 

Next  week  I  shall  (be — have  been)  here  a  month. 

I  am   sure  that  he   (was — has  been)    there,  and    (hoed — has  hoed)   out  the  garden  last 
week. 

I  am  sure  he   (was — has  been)   th^re,  and  (hoed — l.as  hoed)   out  the  garden  this  week. 

I  am  surprised  he  (did  n't — has  n't)  arrived  before  this. 

When  I  saw  him,  he   (had  n't  had — did  n't  have)   time  to  hear. 

He  intended  to    (do — have  done)    it. 

I  should  like   (to  have  seen  him — to  see  him). 

(Did  n't  he  do — has  n't  he  done)   the  work  this  morning? 

(Did  n't  he  do — has  n't  he  done)   the  work  before  twelve  o'clock  this  morning? 

I  meant   (to  have  written — to  write)   before  I  left  town. 


Grammar,  pp.  51-54.  Lesson  XIII. 

We  have  already  seen  that  verbs  are  capable  of  expressing  present,  past,  and  future 
time;  and,  by  the  use  of  the  auxiliary  have,  completeness  of  an  act  at  a  given  time  present, 
past,  or  future  may  be  indicated.  Time  as  expressed  by  verbs  is  known  as  tense. 

In  simple  sentences,  tense  offers  few  difficulties.  The  following  illustrations  will  serve 
to  explain  names  of  tenses  sometimes  used  : 

Present  Tense. 
The  house  stands  on  a  hill. 
We  have  our  commands. 
I  am  doing  the  work  now. 
It  makes  no  difference  to  you  whether  I  do  it  or  not. 

Past  Tense.* 
I  went  there  yesterday. 
I  loved  her,  but  she  did  not  love  me. 
They  gave  me  all  I  asked. 

We  began  to  eat  at  three  o'clock. 
He  spit  as  if  he  had  tasted  poison. 

Future  Tense. 
We  shall  be  there. 
They  will  see  what  will  be  the  result. 
You  shall  do  it,  whether  you  wish  to  or  not. 

Perfect,  or  Present  Perfect,   Tense. 
I  have  done  what  I  could. 
He  has  been  to  town. 
He  has  not  come  yet. 
I  have  already  done  so. 

Pluperfect,  or  Past  Perfect,  Tense. 
They  had  not  arrived  when  I  was  there  yesterday. 
You  had  gone  before  I  got  there. 

Future  Perfect  Tense. 

When  I  have  finished,  I  shall  have  proved  my  case  completely. 
In  that  case,  I  shall  have  been  defeated. 

Participles  and  infinitives  also  express  time  to  some  extent,  as: 

Present — going,  to  go. 

Past — gone,  (the  infinitive  has  no  simple  past  tense.) 

Present  perfect — having  gone,  to  have  gone. 

Past  perfect — (wanting.) 

Future —  (  wanting. ) 

Error  sometimes  occurs  in  using  or  failing  to  use  the  perfect  tenses  when  required 
by  the  use  of  adverbs  which  imply  completeness  at  a  fixed  time.  We  should  say.  "I  have 
done  it  already,"  not  "I  did  it  already,"  and  "I  have  not  yet  done  it,"  not  "I  did  not  do  it  yet." 
The  tense  and  the  adverb  indicating  time  must  be  consistent.  Likewise,  do  not  say  "I  have 
done  it  yesterday." 

The  chief  difficulty  arises  in  the  choosing  of  tenses  in  subordinate  sentences  or  phrases. 
We  should  be  guided  by  the  great  principle  of  sequence  of  tenses,  namely, 

*  Also  called  the  "imperfect"  to  distinguish  it  from  the  past  tense  of  the  participle. 


LESSON  XIII  (Continued).     Punctuation — Further  Study  of  the  Comma. 

N.  B. — When  a  noun  in  apposition  with  another  noun  is  so  closely  related  to  that 
noun  as  really  to  form  a  single  name  with  it,  no  comma  should  be  used.  The  same  rule 
applies  to  adjectives  preceded  by  the  following  a  name. 

Examples :     William  the  Conqueror,  Richard  the  Lion-hearted,  Frederick  the  Great. 

Rule  5.  WThen  the  subject  of  the  second  part  of  a  compound  sentence  is  different 
from  the  subject  of  the  first  part,  a  comma  is  required  before  a  connecting  and  or  or. 
As  but  is  contrastive  rather  than  merely  connective,  it  is  usually  preceded  by  a  comma 
in  such  cases  as  do  not  require  a  semicolon,  though  the  semicolon  is  usually  required. 
Likewise  when  there  is  any  suggestion  of  contrast  or  change  of  the  line  of  thought,  a 
comma  should  be  used  before  and  or  or  even  if  the  subject  is  the  same  as  in  the  preceding 
clause. 

Examples :  The  book  was  published  on  the  26th,  and  we  sent  out  our  circulars  on  the 
29th;  We  published  the  book  on  the  26th  and  sent  out  our  circulars  on  the  29th.  (Observe 
that  in  the  second  sentence  there  is  no  change  of  subject,  and  no  comma  is  required 
before  "and.") 

We  were  in  New  York  that  day,  but  did  not  hear  of  the  fire  till  later.  I  heard  what 
he  said,  and  must  say  I  admired  his  spirit. 

N.  B. — When  sentences  are  so  long  they  are  in  danger  of  falling  into  confusion  they 
may  be  divided  by  commas  simply  to  keep  together  words  that  belong  together. 

Examples :  We  had  a  long  and  weary  march  before  we  reached  the  brink  of  the 
river,  and  we  felt  we  must  pitch  our  tents  there  for  the  night. 

SUMMARY  OF  RULES  FOR  THE  COMMA. 

Rule  1.  Words  in  a  true  series  are  separated  by  commas,  and  a  comma  is  needed 
before  the  conjunction  connecting  the  last  two. 

Rule  2.  Explanatory  clauses  or  phrases  are  set  off  by  commas,  but  restrictive  clauses 
or  phrases  are  not  set  off. 

Rule  3.  All  explanatory  words,  or  words  thrown  into  a  sentence,  including  names  of 
persons  addressed,  nouns  in  apposition,  etc.,  are  set  off  by  commas. 

Rule  4.  Clauses  or  phrases  transposed  from  their  natural  position  in  a  sentence  are 
set  off  by  commas  if  this  is  necessary  to  prevent  confusion. 

Rule  5.  The  principal  part  of  a  compound  sentence  when  connected  by  and  or  or 
require  a  comma  before  the  conjunction  when  the  subject  of  the  second  part  is  different 
from  the  subject  of  the  first  part,  and  before  but  even  when  the  subject  is  unchanged. 
A  comma  before  and  or  or  is  also  required  when  the  subject  remains  unchanged  if  the 
parts  are  long,  if  they  are  contrasted,  or  if  there  is  danger  of  confusion. 

Memorize  these  rules,  and  be  prepared  to  illustrate  each  with  several  examples. 

EXPLAINING  THE  USE  OF  COMMAS. 

If  we  wish  to  master  the  use  of  the  comma  we  must  first  learn  to  assign  correct 
reasons  for  commas  that  we  know  to  be  rightly  used.  Until  we  have  the  reasons  fully 
mastered  we  cannot  hope  to  put  commas  in  correctly. 

Each  of  the  following  sentences  offers  a  clear  illustration  of  the  application  of  one 
or  the  other  of  the  five  rules  we  have  given.  Write  a  small  figure  over  each  comma 
indicating  the  number  of  the  rule  which  applies: 

She  had  no  dowry,  no  expectations,  no  means  of  becoming  known,  understood,  loved, 
wedded  by  any  rich  and  distinguished  man. 

She  suffered  ceaselessly,  feeling  herself  born  for  all  the  refinements  and  luxuries  of 
life.  She  suffered  from  the  poverty  of  her  home  as  she  looked  at  the  dirty  walls,  the 
wornout  chairs,  the  ugly  curtains.  (Why  is  no  comma  required  before  "as.") 

While  edition  after  edition  of  his  book  was  coming  forth  his  son,  as  Mr.  Croker 
tells  us,  was  ashamed  of  it,  and  hated  to  hear  it  mentioned. 

VOVER) 


For  the  last  time,  you  can  get  one  free. 

M.  W.  Savage,  President  of  the  International  Stock  Food  Co.,  employing  fifty  stenog- 
raphers, has  said:  "If  all  my  salesmen,  clerks,  stenographers,  etc.,  could  learn  to  write 
a  correct  and  effective  letter,  they  would  be  worth  twenty-five  per  cent  more  to  me,  and 
I  should  be  willing  to  pay  the  full  value  of  their  services." 

Let  us  see,  therefore,  what  we  can  do  about  it. 

Yes,  sir,  I  will  do  it  at  once. 

Did  you  see  J.  W.  Jones,  the  man  with  the  white  hat,  walking  down  the  street? 

I  desire  to  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  in  life  insurance  the  rate  is  always 
figured  at  the  nearest  age,  that  is,  you  will  be  rated  at  your  present  age  until  six  months 
after  your  birthday;  therefore,  if  my  record  is  correct,  your  age  changes  on  May  30, 
increasing  the  cost  of  ten  thousand  dollars'  insurance  by  seven  dollars  for  every  year 
during  the  continuance  of  the  policy,  which  aggregates,  with  five  per  cent  interest  for 
the  period  named,  nearly  two  hundred  dollars. 

It  secures  approval  of  the  risk  now,  while,  if  delayed,  you  might  not  be  able  to  pass 
an  examination. 

When  the  science  of  the  building  is  great,  great  science  is  of  course  required  to 
comprehend  it:  and  therefore,  of  difficult  bridges,  and  light-houses,  and  harbor  walls,  and 
river  dykes,  and  railway  tunnels,  no  judgment  may  be  rapidly  formed.  But  of  common 
buildings,  built  in  common  circumstances,  it  is  very  possible  for  every  man,  or  woman,  or 
child  to  form  judgment  both  rational  and  rapid.  Their  necessary,  or  even  possible,  features 
are  but  few. — Ruskin. 

EXERCISES   ON   WORDS   OFTEN   MISUSED 

See  Dictionary  of  Errors,  page  113,  or  How  to  Do  Business  by  Letter,  pages  80,  85,  92. 

Why  cannot  "myself"  be  used  as  the  subject  of  a  sentence? 

Why  is  "new  beginner"  wrong? 

Is  "news"  singular  or  plural?  Use  it  correctly  in  a  sentence. 

Give  three  or  four  examples  of  things  that  are  really  "nice,"  and  of  some  which  are 
often  said  to  be  nice  but  are  not. 

Give  an  example  of  the  correct  use  of  "nicely." 

Is  "none"  singular  or  plural?  Give  examples  of  its  correct  use  in  whatever  ways  are 
correct. 

Give  an  example  of  your  own  of  the  correct  use  of  "not — nor"  and  one  of  "not — or." 

Give  an  example  of  your  own  of  the  correct  use  of  "not — but  only." 

Give  examples  of  your  own  of  sentences  in  which  "a  number"  is  properly  plural,  and 
of  sentences  in  which  it  is  properly  singular. 

What  is  the  difference  between   "observation"   and   "observance?"     Give   illustrations. 

When  is  "O"  to  be  used  and  when  "oh"? 

Give  a  sentence  containing  "observe"  correctly  used. 

What  is  the  absurdity  in  "of  all  others"? 

Why  is  "largest  of  any"  incorrect  and  "larger  than  any"  correct? 

When  is  "older"  to  be  used  and  when  "elder"? 

Is  "on  to"  properly  one  word  or  two,  and  why? 

What  is  the  possessive  of  "one"?  May  "his"  be  used?  Give  an  example  of  the  correct 
use  of  "one"  as  an  impersonal  pronoun. 

Give  an  example  of  the  correct  placing  of  "only"  and  the  incorrect  placing. 

In  what  way  is  "verbal"  often  misused,  and  what  is  the  proper  word  to  use  in  such 
cases  ? 

Why  can  "had"  not  be  used  before  "ought"? 

Is  there  such  a  word  as  "overflown"?    What  is  the  correct  word  in  speaking  of  a  river? 

(Lesson  XIII,  page  4) 


LESSON  XIV.     Tense. 

Note.  Observe  that  a  statement  that  is  universally  true  is  put  in  the  present  tense, 
even  after  a  verb  in  the  past  tense  which  would  ordinarily  be  followed  by  another  past 
tense.  Thus,  He  told  us  that  electricity  is  (not  "was")  a  molecular  motion,  not  fluid. 

Rewrite  the   following  sentences   correctly: 

In  what  state  did  you  say  Anaconda   (is — was)  ? 

I  told  him  I   (would — will)   look  into  the  matter. 

I   wish   I    (could — can)    see  him. 

I  wished  (to  meet — to  have  met)  her  on  the  pier. 

It  was  a  fact  that  he  (was — is)  married. 

It  is  a  fact  that  he  (was — is)   married. 

It  was  your  duty  (to  prevent — to  have  prevented)  his  going. 

Has  he  yellow  fever?    I  should  certainly  say  he  (had — has). 

Washington  (is — was)  called  the  Father  of    his  Country. 

He  asked  me  how  far  it  (was — is)   from  Evanston  to  Chicago. 

He  expected   (to  meet — to  have  met)  you  on  the  dock  to-morrow. 

I  gave  him  notice  so  that  he  (might — may)  be  ready  for  us. 

This  country  is  supposed   (to  have  been — to  be)  first  visited  by  the  Norse. 

Can  you  tell  me  who  first  said  honesty  (is — was)  the  best  policy? 

If  you  would  only  work,  your  success  (would — will)  be  certain. 

The  house  was  (to  be — to  have  been)  sold  this  morning. 

Be  virtuous   and  you    (will — would)    be  happy. 

If  you  were  virtuous  you  (would  be — will  be)   happy. 

Next  week  I   (shall  be — shall  have  been)   here  a  month. 

Soon  after  I  got  here,  in  comes  Charles. 

(Being — having  been)  absent  from  the  last  recitation,  I  do  not  know  where  the  lesson  is. 

I  am  sure  he   (has  been — was)  there  and   (did — has  done)  what  was  required  of  him. 

I    (will   accept — accept)    with  pleasure  your  kind   invitation. 


Grammar,  pp.  51-54   (cont.)  (Lesson  XIV.) 

Verbs  in  subordinate  sentences  must  be  governed  by  the  tense  of  the  principal  verb. 
We  may  test  and  correct  the  application  of  this  principle  by  inquiring  whether  the 
tenses  we  use  express  exactly  the  relations  of  time  that  accord  with  the  facts  in  the  case. 

Examples:     I  see  the  new  building  every  time  I  go  to  town. 

I  saw  it  when  I  was  there. 

He  said  he  would  do  it. 

He  says  he  will  do  it 

To  have  done  otherwise  would  have  been  wrong. 

We  may  not  say,  "I  wish  to  have  done  it,"  for  it  is  impossible  to  "wish  for"  that  which 
is  past.  It  is  more  proper  to  say  "I  should  have  liked  to  do  it,"  than  "I  should  like  to  have 
done  it,"  since  it  is  a  little  awkward  for  our  liking  to  go  backward,  though  even  this  is  not 
impossible. 

We  would  not  say  "The  Lord  hath  given  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away,"  since  the 
giving  took  place  before  the  taking  away,  and  the  meaning  must  be  expressed  by  saying, 
'The  Lord  gave  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away." 

"John  will  earn  his  wages  when  his  service  is  complete,"  is  illogical  and  should  be 
expressed,  ''John  will  have  earned  his  wages  when  his  service  shall  be  complete." 

"After  we  visited  New  York,  we  returned,  content  and  thankful,  to  our  retired  and 
peaceful  habitation,"  should  obviously  be,  "After  we  had  visited  New  York,"  etc. 

But  we  may  say,  "After  we  visited  New  York,  we  went  to  Baltimore,"  since  the  time 
is  continuous. 

"In  the  little  conversation  I  had  with  him,  he  appeared  to  have  been  a  man  of  letters/' 
requires  "to  be"  in  the  place  of  "to  have  been." 

"We  have  done  no  more  than  it  was  our  duty  to  have  done,"  should  be  either,  "We 
have  done  no  more  than  it  was  our  duty  to  do,"  or  "We  did  no  more  than  it  was  our  duty 
to  do,"  according  to  the  meaning  intended  by  the  writer. 

When  the  statement  in  the  subordinate  sentence  is  of  universal  application,  whether 
the  time  be  past,  present,  or  future,  we  must  use  the  present  tense.  "The  doctor,  in  his 
lecture,  said  that  fever  always  produced  thirst,"  should  be,  "The  doctor,  in  his  lecture,  said 
that  fever  always  produces  thirst." 

"I  will  attend  to  the  business  as  soon  as  I  have  finished  my  letter,"  is  correct,  though 
"I  will  attend  to  the  business  as  soon  as  I  shall  have  finished  my  letter,"  is  logically  more 
complete. 


LESSON  XIV   (Continued).      Punctuation — Exercises  on  the  Comma. 

Insert  the  commas  required  in  the  following  sentences  and  place  over  each  a  figure 
showing  what  rule  you  apply: 

A  question  was  once  somehow  or  other  started  between  Collins  and  me. 

Its  crops  were  so  heavy  and  its  hay  so  high  and  its  apples  so  red  and  its  grapes 
so  blue  and  its  wine  so  rich  and  its  honey  so  sweet,  that  it  was  a  marvel  to  every  one 
who  beheld  it. 

The  whole  of  the  little  valley  belonged  to  three  brothers  called  Schwartz  Hans  and 
Gluck. 

Schwartz  and  Hans  the  two  elder  brothers  were  very  ugly  men  with  overhanging 
eyebrows  and  small  dull  eyes  which  were  always  half  shut  so  that  you  couldn't  see  into 
them  and  always  fancied  they  saw  very  far  into  you. 

He  has  a  thousand  pretty  fancies  and  I  am  sure  if  you  saw  him  you  would  like  him. 

My  French  almost  deserted  me  entirely  when  I  had  to  speak  to  her,  and  so  she  drew 
away  and  left  me  to  her  lord  who  talked  of  French  politics  Africa  and  domestic  economy 
with  great  vivacity. 

In  the  dark  walks  too  there  are  crowds  of  people  whose  faces  you  cannot  see  and 
here  and  there  a  colossal  white  statue  at  the  corner  of  an  alley  that  gives  the  place  a 
nice  artificial  eighteenth  century  sentiment. 

I  try  wine  and  spirits  and  smoking  and  snuff  in  unsparing  quantities.  I  sleep  in  a 
damp  room  but  it  does  no  good. 

In  spite  however  of  the  customary  phrase  of  a  man's  "making  a  fool  of  himself"  we 
doubt  if  any  one  was  ever  a  fool  of  his  own  free  will  and  accord.  A  poet  therefore 
should  not  always  be  taken  too  strictly  to  task. 

It  was  indeed  a  morning  that  might  have  made  anyone  happy  even  with  no  Golden 
River  to  seek  for.  Level  lines  of  dewy  mist  lay  stretched  along  the  valley  out  of  which 
rose  the  massy  mountains, — their  lower  cliffs  in  pale  gray  shadow  descending  till  they  caught 
the  sunlight  which  ran  in  sharp  touches  of  ruddy  color  along  the  angular  crags  and 
pierced  in  long  level  rays  through  their  fringe  of  spear-like  pine.  Far  above  shot  up 
splintered  masses  of  castellated  rock  jagged  and  shivered  into  myriads  of  fantastic  forms 
with  here  and  there  a  streak  of  sunlit  snow  traced  down  their  chasms  like  a  line  of  forked 
lightning;  and  far  beyond  and  far  above  all  these  fainter  than  the  morning  cloud  but 
purer  and  changeless  slept  the  blue  sky  the  utmost  peaks  of  the  eternal  snow. 

To  attain  this  tone  which  is  perfectly  natural  to  some  people  and  so  difficult  to 
attain  by  others  one  must  keep  oneself  in  the  right  frame  of  mind  thinking  of  the  superior 
as  the  ideal  boss  even  if  it  is  necessary  to  idealize  him  a  little  and  then  being  perfectly 
sincere  straightforward  and  natural.  Respect  yourself  as  well  as  your  superior  and  at 
all  times  be  a  gentleman  and  never  forget  that  you  are  a  subordinate. 

Sidney  Sheldon  the  leading  authority  on  letter  writing  gives  in  his  fifty  Instruction 
Cards  for  Business  Men  scores  of  the  most  successful  letters  ever  sent  out  in  this 
country  and  describes  all  the  latest  devices  and  wrinkles  for  soliciting  by  mail  collecting 
money  handling  agents  etc.  etc. 

When  he  says  he  is  ready  write  him  a  simple  straight-from-the-shoulder  letter  of 
direction  indicating  every  step  just  as  you  would  to  a  child.  Say  "Go  here.  You  will 
meet  such  and  such  reception.  Begin  by  saying  so-and-so  in  such  and  such  a  manner. 
That  should  give  you  the  attention  of  the  man  you  are  canvassing.  If  you  don't  get  his 
attention  drop  the  matter  and  refuse  to  go  on  till  you  have  it." 

(OVER) 


EXERCISES   ON   WORDS    OFTEN   MISUSED 

See  Dictionary  of  Errors,  page  117,  or  How  to  Do  Business  by  Letter,  pages  93,  103. 
When  is  it  proper  to  use  "pair"  as  a  plural  and  when  "pairs"? 

What  is  the  plural  of  "parenthesis"   and  when  is   it  proper  to  use  it?     Do  the  two 
marks  inclosing  a  group  of  words  make  more  than  one  "parenthesis"? 

Can  one  person  rush  "pell-mell"? 

In  what  connection  may  the  Latin  "per"  properly  be  used? 

If  young  ladies  do  not  "perform"  on  the  piano,  what  do  they  do? 

What  is  the  difference  between  "permit"  and  "allow"? 

What  is  the  difference  between  "perpetually"  and  "continually"? 

Why  is  "this  phenomena"  incorrect? 

Is  there  such  a  word  as  "pled"?    What  is  the  correct  form  to  use? 

What  is  the  difference  in  meaning  between  "plenty"  and  "plentiful"? 

Be  prepared  to  write  on  dictation  any  of  the  irregular  plurals.    Give  this  subject  careful 
study.    Dictionary  of  Errors,  page  118,  and  How  to  Do  Business  by  Letter,  page  103. 

Write  three  sentences  in  which  "politics"  is  used  as  the  subject  of  a  present  verb. 
What  is  the  difference  between  "part"  and  "portion"?     Illustrate. 
What  is  the  difference  between  "practical"  and  "practicable"? 

What  is  the   difference  between   "predicate"   and   "predict"?     Between   "present"   and 
"introduce"? 

Is  there  such  a  word  as  "preventative" ?    What  is  the  correct  form? 


(Lesson  XIV;  page  4) 


LESSON  XV.     The  Subjunctive. 

See  Grammar,  sections  51  and  52,  pp.  54-56. 

What  is  the  subject  of  a  verb  in  the  imperative  mode? 

Is 'the  subjunctive  mode  ever  found  except  in  a  subordinate  sentence?     What  does  it 
express? 

Give  an  example  of  a  supposed  case. 
Give  an  example  of  a  wish. 

Give  an  example  of  a  sentence  arranged  to  indicate  a  supposed  case,  and  then  alter  it 
to  indicate  a  matter  of  fact. 

Do  the  present  and  past  tenses  of  the  subjunctive  mode  indicate  present  and  past  lime 

or  future  time?     Is  there  any  future  subjunctive? 

What   is  the  difference   in  meaning  in  the  following  alternative  forms? — 

If  he  were  strong  he  could  walk  it  easily — If  he  is  strong  he  can  walk  it  easily. 

Oh,  that  you   (may  be — were — had  been)  here  ! 

Though  he   (were — is)   pure  and  honorable  at  heart,  he   (will  be — would  be)  corrupted. 

In  the  following,  which  of  the   forms  in  parenthesis  is  preferable: 
If  I  (were — was)  he,  I  would  go  at  once. 

See  that  no  one   (is — be)    overlooked. 

Unless   he    (hurry — hurries),  he  will   miss  the  train. 

Whether    it     (pleases — please)     him    or    not,    matters    noc    to    me. 

Whether  it   (please — pleases)   him  or  not,  could  not  matter  to  rne. 

I  wish  I    (was — were)    a  bird. 

Except  ye    (be — are)    born   again,  ye  cannot  see  my  Father. 

Unless  Alary   (take — takes)   care  of  herself,  she  will  certainly  catch  cold. 

I  hope  that  if  any  one    (come — comes)   in,  you  will   say  I  am  out. 

Beware  lest   evil    (creep — creeps)    in. 

If  the  book   (were — was)  mine,  I  would  give  it  gladly. 

If  the  book  (be — is)  mine,  I  will  give  it  gladly. 


Grammar,  pp.  54-56.  Lesson  XV. 

The  different  modes  have  already  been  defined.  The  indicative  mode,  expressing 
simple,  direct  assertion,  offers  no  difficulties ;  the  potential  mode  consists  in  little  more  than 
the  use  of  the  potential  auxiliaries,  may,  can,  would,  should,  could,  might,  must;  the  infinitive 
mode  has  been  discussed ;  the  imperative  mode  is  peculiar  in  that  it  is  confined  to  the  second 
person,  or  person  spoken  to,  and  usually  omits  the  subject.  Examples  of  the  imperative 
mode  are — "Do  this,"  "Never  do  it,"  "Hear  what  I  say,"  etc.  Perhaps  "let"  may  be  looked 
on  as  an  auxiliary  for  the  imperative  mode,  permitting  reference  to  other  persons  than  the 
second,  as  in  "Let  me  do  it,"  "Let  her  see  you  for  a  moment,"  etc.  In  full  these  forms 
become,  "(Do  you)  let  me  (to)  do  it,"  "(Do  you)  let  her  (to)  see  you  for  a  moment,"  etc. 
Or  the  do  may  be  omitted. 

The  mode  which  really  gives  trouble  is  the  subjunctive.  It  differs  from  the  simple 
indicative  in  not  forming  its  third  person  singular  by  the  addition  of  e  or  es,  and  we  say,  "If 
he  do  it,  it  will  be  of  the  greatest  benefit."  The  irregular  verb  to  be,  uses  the  form  be 
throughout  the  present  tense  of  the  subjunctive  mode,  as  "If  I  be,  if  you  be,  if  he  be,  if  we  be, 
if  you  be,  if  they  be";  and  were  throughout  the  past  tense  of  the  subjunctive,  as  "If  I  were, 
if  you  were,  if  he  were,  if  we  were,  if  you  were,  if  they  were." 

It  is  the  office  of  the  subjunctive  mode  to  indicate  supposed  cases  as  opposed  to  cases 
of  fact.  Thus,  we  say,  "If  he  was  (as  a  matter  of  fact)  there,  he  saw  Anna  on  the  stage"; 
but,  "If  he  were  here  (as  he  is  not),  he  would  see  Anna  on  the  stage."  Such  phrases  as  "as 
it  were"  are  typical  of  the  subjunctive  mode,  and  other  conjunctions  than  if  may  be  used 
with  it.  Examples :  "Unless  he  do  it,  it  will  go  hard  with  him" ;  "Though  he  be  a  giant,  he 
will  have  to  succumb  to  such  oratory";  "Though  he  slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust  in  him"; 
"Whether  he  improve  or  not,  it  matters  little";  "Except  ye  repent,  ye  shall  surely  die"; 
"Reprove  not  a  scorner,  lest  he  hate  thee." 

The  subjunctive  mode  is  used  to  express  wishes,  which  are  very  similar  to  suppositions. 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  subjunctive  mode  often  indicates  that  which  is  in  the  future, 
even  with  the  present  and  past  tenses,  since  what  is  really  accomplished,  either  past  or 
present,  is  not  a  subject  for  supposition,  as  a  rule.  Perhaps  this  accounts  for  the  omission 
of  s  or  es  from  the  third  person  of  the  present  tense,  will  having  been  omitted,  as  in  "If  he 
(will)  do  it,  it  will  be  of  the  greatest  benefit." 

There  is  a  growing  tendency  to  disregard  the  subjunctive  mode  as  much  as  possible, 
and  some  writers  even  deny  that  it  exists  at  all  in  the  English  language.  The  crude  speaker 
will  seldom  have  occasion  to  use  it,  except  in  idiomatic  and  well  established  phrases,  such 
as  "as  it  were,"  but  the  precise  thinker  and  reasoner  will  find  the  subjunctive  mode  of  the 
utmost  utility,  and  a  means  of  expressing  nice  distinctions  that  are  otherwise  almost  impos- 
sible ol  expression. 


LESSON  XV  (Continued).     Punctuation — the  Semicolon. 

When  several  sentences  are  closely  connected  in  meaning,  they  are  often  separated  by 
semicolons  to  indicate  a  closer  relationship  than  would  be  indicated  if  they  were  separated 
by  periods.  The  parts  of  a  compound  sentence  connected  by  but  are  separated  by  a 
semicolon  if  they  are  strongly  contrasted.  Phrases,  or  groups  of  words,  are  often  sepa- 
rated by  semicolons  when  they  are  themselves  subdivided  by  commas. 

Examples  (taken  from  Macaulay,  a  master  in  the  use  of  the  colon  and  the  semicolon) : 
He  was  a  soldier;  he  had  risen  by  war. 

Its  triumphs  added  nothing  to  his  fame;  its  increase  added  nothing  to  his  means 
of  overawing  his  enemies;  its  great  leader  was  not  his  friend. 

This  constitution  in  former  days  used  to  be  the  envy  of  the  world;  it  was  the 
pattern  for  politicians;  the  theme  of  the  eloquent;  the  meditation  of  the  philosopher  in 
every  part  of  the  world. 

The  lines  are  few,  the  coloring  faint;  but  the  general  air  and  expression  is  caught. 
It  burned  down  the  city;  but  it  burned  out  the  plague. 

It  would  be  easy  to  indicate  many  points  of  resemblance  between  the  subjects  of 
Diocletian  and  the  people  of  the  Celestial  Empire,  where,  during  many  centuries,  nothing 
has  been  learned  or  unlearned;  where  government,  where  education,  where  the  whole  sys- 
tem of  life,  is  a  ceremony;  where  knowledge  forgets  to  increase  and  multiply,  and,  like  the 
talent  buried  in  the  earth,  or  the  pound  wrapped  up  in  a  napkin,  experiences  neither  waste 
nor  augmentation. 

It  is  despised  and  rejected  of  men;  and  every  device  and  invention  of  ingenuity  or 
idleness  is  set  up  in  opposition,  or  in  preference  to  it. 

As  a  simple  example  of  the  last  clause  in  the  rule,  we  offer  the  following:  The  list 
of  hero  kings  of  England  includes  Alfred,  called  the  Great,  Richard  the  Lion-hearted,  who 
did  yeoman's  service  in  the  crusades;  William  the  Conqueror;  and,  if  we  may  add  a  queen, 
Elizabeth. 

SUMMARY  OF  RULES. 

Rule.  1.  Use  the  semicolon  instead  of  the  period  between  sentences  that  need  to  be 
grouped  together.  (Avoid  the  comma.) 

Rule  2.  Use  the  semicolon  before  but  and  between  the  parts  of  a  compound  sentence 
when  one  part  is  strongly  contrasted  with  the  other,  or  you  desire  to  distinguish  sharply. 
Also,  otherwise,  and  therefore  are  similar  to  but  in  indicating  contrast. 

Rule  3.     Use  the  semicolon  to  group  words  which  are  subdivided  by  commas. 

Many  of  the  sentences  that  are  mistakenly  run  together  with  only  a  comma  between 
may  properly  be  separated  by  the  semicolon  so  as  to  show  the  close  relationship  that  is 
instinctively  felt,  yet  not  violate  the  rule  for  the  grammatical  unity  of  the  sentence.  Turn 
to  the  second  portion  of  Lesson  III.  and  see  to  what  extent  you  would  wish  to  use 
semicolons  instead  of  periods  between  the  sentences  where  you  found  a  comma  wrongly 
used. 

As  the  proper  mark  to  group  words  already  subdivided  by  commas,  the  semicolon  is 
used  after  different  items  listed  in  a  letter.  The  period  indicates  when  the  end  of  the 
list  has  been  reached.  When  a  price  ends  each  item,  that  is  often  sufficient  distinction 
without  the  semicolon, 

(OVER) 


EXERCISES   ON  THE   SEMICOLON 

State  the  rule  which  explains  the  use  of  the  semicolon  in  each  of  the  following 
sentences : 

I  am  flatter  than  a  denial  or  a  pancake;  emptier  than  Judge  Parke's  wig  when  the 
head  is  in  it;  duller  than  a  country  stage  when  the  actors  are  off  it, — a  cipher,  an  o!  (Ob- 
serve that  the  subject  and  predicate  are  clearly  implied  in  two  of  these  sentences:  what 
are  they?  Also  observe  that  a  dash  introduces  the  summary  of  all.  How  useful  is  punc- 
tuation in  expressing  our  meaning?  ) 

I  inhale  suffocation;  I  can't  distinguish  veal  from  mutton;  nothing  interests  me.  I  am 
weary  of  life;  life  is  weary  of  me. 

You  know  our  "Sure  and  Easy"  fire  tube  has  been  thoroughly  tested  during  the  past 
five  years.  It  is  quick;  it  is  positive;  it  injures  no  fabric,  paper,  or  furniture. 

In  ordering  goods  be  sure  to<— 

1.  Make  a  list,  or  arrange  in  a  column,  if  there  are  several  items,  to  avoid  confusion ; 

2.  Give  sizes,  styles,  and  all  other  details  you  possibly  can,  or  clearly  explain  precisely 
what  you  want; 

3.  State  how  much  money  is  sent,  or  how  you  intend  to  make  payment; 

4.  Indicate  how  shipment  is  to  be  made. 

(In  the  preceding  explain  also  the  use  of  each  comma.) 

EXERCISES   ON  WORDS   OFTEN  MISUSED 

See  Dictionary  of  Errors,  page  121,  or  How  to  Do  Business  by  Letter,  pages  104,  112. 
Why  is  it  wrong  to  say,  "I  got  here  previous  to  your  arrival"? 

What  is  the  objection  to  saying  "Where  did  you  procure  it?"  when  this  use  of  "procure" 
is  admitted  to  be  logically  correct? 

What  is  the  difference  between  "proposal"  and  "proposition"? 

What  is  the  objection  to  "proven"  in  common  use? 

What  is  the  difference  between  "propose"  and  "purpose"? 

Exactly  what  is  a  "proposition,"  and  how  is  the  word  sometimes  misused? 

What  two  parts  of  speech  may  "provided"  be?  For  which  one  of  them  is  "providing" 
often  wrongly  used?  Why  is  "providing"  wrong  as  a  conjunction? 

Give  a  sentence  in  which  "quite"  is  correctly  used. 

What  is  the  objection  to  "quite  a  good  deal"?    What  should  you  say? 

What  is  the  difference  between  "raise"  and  "rise"?  Give  several  examples  of  the 
correct  use  of  each,  so  as  to  illustrate  their  differences. 

Do  you  ask  for  a  "raise"  of  salary  or  a  "rise"  of  salary?    Can  you  tell  why? 

Why  is  "real  nice"  wrong,  and  what  is  the  correct  form  ?  Criticise  "She  is  a  real  sweet 
little  baby." 

What  is  the  difference  between  "receipt"  and  "recipe"?  Use  each  in  sentences  so  as 
to  illustrate  the  different  meanings. 

What  is  the  difference  between  "remember"  and  "recollect"? 
What  is  the  difference  between  "rendition"  and  "rendering"? 
What  is  a  man's  "residence"? 

(Lesson  XV,  page  4) 


LESSON  XVI.    Irregular  Verbs. 

See  Grammar,  sections  53,  54,  pp.  56-60. 

Look  up  in  the  dictionary  and  carefully  distinguish — sit,  set,  lie,  lay,  learn,  teach. 

What  is  the  difference  between  a  past  participle  and  a  simple  past  tense? 

Rewrite  the  following  sentences  correctly : 
He  has  (begun — began)  to  do  the  work. 

The  rat  had  (bit — bitten)  the  rope  almost  in  two. 

We  will  (learn — teach)  him  the  trick  yet. 

He  (laid — lay)  the  boy  down  gently. 

She  (lay — laid)  down  to  take  a  nap. 

It  was  (laid — lain)  on  the  top  shelf. 

I  have  (bore — borne)  the  brunt  of  this  battle. 

Henry  had  (forgot — forgotten)  to  tell  his  sister. 

We  (saw — seen)  the  parade. 

They  had  (gone — went)  to  Minneapolis. 

The  little  boy   (did— done)   his  best. 

They  have  (come — came)  over  to  see  us. 

Henry  had  (wrote— written)  his  sister. 

He  had  (set— sat)  down  to  the  table. 

The  hen  was  (sitting — setting). 

He  had  just  (set — sat)  the  hen. 

Change  the  present  tenses  of  the  verbs  in  the  following  sentences  to  the  past  tense; 
The  Charles  river  overflows  its  banks. 

The  girl's  mother  pleads  for  hef 
The  blacksmith  shoes  the  horses. 

The  bird  flies  high  over  the  trees. 

I  bid  5oc  for  that  picture. 

The  party  alight  at  our  door. 

I  light  the  lamp. 

Helen  swims  like  a  fish. 


Grammar,  pp.  56-60.  Lesson  XVI. 

We  have  called  attention  to  the  various  irregularities  of  the  verb  to  be  in  the  different 
modes  and  tenses.  Besides  this  verb,  there  are  over  one  hundred  and  seventy  other  verbs 
that  are  classed  as  irregular;  but  their  irregularity  extends  only  to  the  past  tense  and  the 
past  participle,  and  forms  derived  from  them. 

The  following  illustrations  will  serve  to  indicate  this  class : 

Present  Past  Past  participle 

arise  arose  arisen 

build  built  built 

bite  bit  bitten 

spit  spit  spit 

begin  began  begun 

put  put  put 

catch  caught  caught 

teach  taught  taught 

The  chief  difficulty  with  such  verbs  arises  from  confusing  the  past  tense  with  the  past 
participle.  Many  people  will  say  "I  done  it,"  and  some  even  "I  have  did  it." 

There  are  not  many  of  the  irregular  verbs  that  offer  difficulty.  Before  considering 
them,  let  us  "see  just  when  and  where  we  should  use  the  past  tense,  and  where  and  when  the 
past  participle. 

The  auxiliaries  to  be  and  to  have  are  followed  by  the  past  participle  in  forming  the 
various  modes,  tenses,  etc.,  of  the  verb,  but  all  the  other  auxiliaries  are  followed  by  the 
present  form  (the  present  infinitive  without  the  to).  We  can  make  no  error  if  we  always 
place  the  participle  after  forms  of  be  and  have,  but  use  the  past  form  when  be  and  have 
are  wanting  in  regular  sentences.  The  following  illustrations  will  serve  to  enforce  this 
observation.  In  each  case  the  past  tense  of  the  verb  is  used  before  the  participial  form: 

He  bore  the  colors  before  the  regiment; 
but  He  had  borne  his  comrades  from  the  field. 

He  bade  me  tell  you  he  was  ready  to  see  you; 
but  He  was  bidden  to  apologize. 

He  came  up  here  to  see  you; 
but  He  had  come  up  here  to  see  you. 

We  all  did  our  best; 
but  Everything  was  done  that  could  be  done. 

We  forgot  to  ask  his  opinion; 
but  The  incident  was  forgotten  an  hour  later. 

He  laid  the  book  on  the  table; 

When  he  came  in  he  was  so  tired  he  lay  down  to  rest ; 
but  She  had  lain  down  to   rest; 

The  towel  had  been  laid  away  and  I  could  not  find  it. 

(Note.  Distinguish  the  parts  of  these  two  entirely  different  verbs  carefully.  They 
are  often  confused.) 


LESSON  XVI  (Continued).     Punctuation — the  Colon. 

The  nature  and  use  of  the  colon  are  not  well  understood  by  ordinary  writers,  and 
this  mark  of  punctuation  is  seldom  required  in  ordinary  writing.  It  would  be  well  to 
dispense  with  it  except  in  cases  where  its  use  is  clearly  comprehended. 

The  colon  signifies  that  what  precedes  is  logically  equivalent  to  what  follows.  It  is  used 
in  the  formal  introduction  of  quotations,  especially  after  such  phrases  as  "as  follows."  The 
introduction  states  that  he  spoke,  the  quotation  following  gives  the  words  of  his  speech. 
One  is  the  equivalent  of  the  other. 

It  will  be  seen  that  in  most  cases  the  colon  has  a  special  meaning  of  its  own,  and 
to  say  that  it  indicates  a  pause  more  abrupt  than  the  semicolon  is  usually  incorrect. 

Examples :  The  wind  raged,  and  the  rain  beat  against  the  window :  it  was  a  miserable 
day.  (The  last  sentence  summarizes  the  preceding.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  colon 
closes  what  is  really  a  complete  sentence;  and  the  sentence  which  follows  is  also  complete.) 

One  thing  thou  lackest :  go  thy  way,  sell  whatsoever  thou  hast,  and  give  to  the  poor. 
(Again  we  see  the  logical  equivalence  of  the  two  sentences  separated  by  the  colon.) 

Note. — The  equality  between  the  ideas  in  sentences  separated  from  each  other  by 
colons  may  be  of  a  great  variety  of  kinds.  If  the  writer  wishes  to  balance  two  sentences 
against  each  other  and  indicate  that  one  offsets  the  other,  that  is,  that  one  is  equal  to  the 
other  in  its  value  as  an  idea,  he  may  use  the  colon  between  the  two.  Macaulay,  who  con- 
stantly uses  the  balanced  structure  as  a  rhetorical  device,  employs  the  colon  again  and 
again  to  indicate  that  he  means  to  balance  his  first  sentence  against  his  second,  though  in 
many  cases  one  is  just  opposite  in  meaning  to  the  other.  The  following  are  examples : 

Hatred  and  revenge  eat  into  the  heart :  yet  his  aspect  and  language  exhibit  nothing 
but  philosophical  moderation. 

The  following  generation  produced  indeed  no  second  -Dante:  but  it  was  eminently 
distinguished  by  general  intellectual  activity. 

This  is  strange:  and  yet  the  strangest  is  behind. 

(In  very  long  and  complicated  sentences  the  colon  was  formerly  used  to  show  greater 
separation  than  is  indicated  by  semicolons  in  the  same  sentence.  Nowadays  such  long  sen- 
tences are  not  tolerated.) 

The  colon  is  the  proper  mark  to  use  after  the  salutation  of  a  letter.  Do  not  add  a 
dash,  for  it  does  not  help  in  any  way  and  the  better  usage  dispenses  with  it.  Examples: 
Dear  Sir :  My  dear  Friend :  Gentlemen : 

Use  a  colon  to  introduce  a  formal  quotation,  but  be  careful  not  to  use  it  to  introduce 
an  informal  quotation,  as  writers  so  often  do.  Mr.  Smith  said  in  part :  "When  I  was  called 
on  to  address  you,"  etc. — that  is  a  formal  qoutation.  Mr.  Smith  said,  "I  would  n't  do 
that  if  I  were  in  your  place" — that  is  an  informal  quotation.  It  is  a  real  error  to  place  a 
colon  after  said  in  the  latter  case.  A  comma  and  a  dash  may  introduce  a  quotation  between 
one  that  is  very  formal  and  one  that  is  quite  informal. 

MORE  EXERCISES  ON  THE  SEMICOLON. 

Insert  both  commas  and  semicolons  where  needed  in  the  following: 

Any  rnan  can  make  money  if  he  has — 1.  A  good  thing  to  push  2.  Big  enough  margin 
of  profit  3.  Protection. 

We  will  supply  you  everything  but  the  spirit  but  that  must  come  from  you. 

They  may  fail  and  they  may  succeed  and  no  man  can  tell  in  advance  what  the  result 
will  be  but  it  is  true  of  all  business  that  some  ventures  pay  and  some  do  not. 

This  provides  the  machinery  for  answering  all  letters  that  come  in  but  thousands  who 
do  not  have  this  machinery  for  answering  letters  do  not  go  any  further  that  is  they  never 
follow  up  the  inquiries  they  receive. 

(OVER) 


I  know  English  is  a  good  thing  but  I  haven't  time  for  anything  that  doesn't  bear 
directly  on  my  business. 

Time  and  space  are  but  physiological  colors  which  the  eye  makes  but  the  soul  is  light 
where  it  is  is  day  where  it  was  is  night  and  history  is  an  impertinence  and  an  injury  if  it  be 
anything  more  than  a  cheerful  apologue  or  parable  of  my  being  and  becoming. — Carlyle. 

Sometimes  blazing  in  gold-laced  hats  and  waistcoats  sometimes  lying  in  bed  because 
their  coats  had  gone  to  pieces  or  wearing  paper  cravats  because  their  linen  was  in  pawn 
sometimes  drinking  Champagne  and  Tokay  with  Betty  Careless  sometimes  standing  at  the 
window  of  an  eating-house  in  Porridge  Island  to  snuff  up  the  scent  of  what  they 
could  not  afford  to  taste  they  knew  luxury  they  knew  beggary  but  they  never  knew  comfort. 

EXERCISES  ON  THE  COLON. 

In  this  book,  why  is  a  colon  used  after  the  word  "Examples"? 
Explain  the  use  of  colons  and  semicolons  in  the  following: 

Don't  begin  all  your  letters  in  the  same  well-worn,  stereotyped  fashion  as 

"In  reply  to  your  esteemed  leter  of  the  12th  inst.,  we  beg  to  apprise"; 

"In  answer  to  your  letter  of  the  5th  inst.,  we  have  the  honor  to  inform  you." 

Begin  at  once  with  what  you  have  to  say,  and  acknowledge  incidentally  the  letter  you 
are  answering.  For  example,  begin  (if  the  letter  contains  an  order)  : 

"We  thank  you  cordially  for  the  order  contained  in  your  letter  of  the  10th  inst.,  just 
at  hand." 

If  the  letter  asks  a  favor  of  some  kind,  begin: 

"We  have  read  yours  of  the  16th  carefully,  but  cannot  see  our  way  at  present  to 
granting  your  request";  or 

"We  fully  appreciate  all  you  say  in  your  letter  of  the  16th  inst.,  just  received,  but." 

(In  the  preceding,  what  words  are  indicated  clearly  by  the  colons  after  "begin"? 
Why  is  there  no  mark  after  "stereotyped  fashion  as"?) 

Don't  say,  "Trusting  we  may  have  a  continuance  of  your  valued  patronage."  Say 
anything  that  is  natural,  friendly,  and  intelligent. 

I  take  the  liberty  of  inclosing  a  statement  for  a  Convertible  Term  Policy  which  I 
know  will  prove  of  interest  to  you,  as  it  has  these  great  advantages:  (List  of  numbered 
items  follows). 

Insert  colons  or  other  marks  where  required  in  the  following: 

On  my  saying,  What  have  I  to  do  with  the  sacredness  of  traditions  if  I  live  wholly 
from  within?  my  friend  suggested  "But  these  impulses  may  be  from  below,  not  from  above." 
I  replied  "They  do  not  seem  to  me  to  be  such." 

Friend,  client,  child,  sickness,  fear,  want,  charity,  all  knock  at  once  at  thy  closet  door, 
and  say  "Come  out  unto  us." 

Discontent  is  the  want  of  self-reliance  it  is  the  infirmity  of  will. 

All  the  world  reads  it,  all  the  world  delights  in  it  yet  we  do  not  remember  ever  to 
have  read  or  ever  to  have  heard  any  expression  of  respect  and  admiration  for  the  man 
to  whom  we  owe  so  much  instruction  and  amusement. 

This  incident  is  recorded  in  the  "Journey"  as  follows  "Out  of  one  of  the  beds  on 
which  we  were  to  repose"  etc. 

(Lesson  XVI,  page  4) 


LESSON  XVII.    Irregular  Verbs. 

Change  the  verbs  in  the  following  either  to  perfect  or  to  passive  form 
The  swallow  flies  close  to  the  ground. 

Who  stole  my  watch? 

I  wake  up  in  the  night. 

This  shows  what  a  bad  man  he  is. 

Are  you  shoeing  my  horse? 

He  speaks  like  a  man  of  education. 

This  proves  the  case. 

They  lay  the  case  before  me. 

This  state  hangs  murderers. 

I  rise  at  four  in  the  morning.  « 

Those  men  are  going  to  the  train. 

Our  water  froze  last  night. 

That  bank  president  flees  to  Mexico. 

Will  you  break  the  news  to  my  wife? 

I  dove  from  the  pier. 

They  were  driving  a  flock  of  sheep  along  the  street. 

I  forget  what  you  said. 

My  little  boy  awakes  me  every  morning  at  six. 

The  politician  speaks  like  a  talking-machine. 

The  river  is  overflowing  its  banks. 

She  bears  the  burden  meekly. 

The  poor  child  sank  three  times. 

They  beseech  me  for  money  which  I  cannot  give  them. 

Helen  bade  her  mother  goodbye. 

The  pressure  bursts  the  pipe. 

How  many   cakes  are  you  eating? 

They  will  hang  that  man. 


Grammar,  pp.  56-60  (cont.)  (Lesson  XVII.) 

We  saw  the  parade; 
but  She  lives  merely  to  see  and  to  be  seen. 

The  wind  shook  the  tree  till  it  trembled; 
but  The  tree  was  shaken  till  it  fell. 

The  sun  shone  in  at  the  window ; 
and  The  sun  had  shone  brightly  all  day ; 

but  He  showed  us  the  jewels  which  had  before  been  shown  to  the  prince. 

(Note  that  here  we  have  two  entirely  different  verbs.) 

The  student  may  make  similar  examples  for  himself  correctly  using  the  following: 

Present  Past  Past  participle 

speak  spoke  spoken 

steal  stole  stolen 

swear  swore  sworn 

take  took  taken 

wear  wore  worn 

write  wrote  written 

The  common  error  in  the  use  of  the  above  may  be  readily  seen  by  placing  the  past 
participle  where  the  past  tense  form  should  be  found.  The  student  will  do  well  to  read  the 
above  sentences  with  the  past  participle  in  place  of  the  past  tense  as,  "He  come  up  here  to  see 
you" ;  and  if  the  past  participle  is  not  liable  to  such  misuse,  replace  the  participle  by  the  past 
tense,  as  "He  had  bore  his  comrade  from  the  field."  Such  an  experiment  once  tried  will 
doubtless  put  the  student  on  his  guard.  It  is  better  that  the  student  should  try  the  experiment 
for  himself  without  writing  out  the  sentence  than  that  his  teacher  should  offer  him  incorrect 
examples  on  which  his  mind  may  dwell  too  long ;  study  should  be  concentrated  on  the  correct 
usage. 

There  is  a  class  of  irregular  verbs  in  which  the  principal  vowel  may  be  u  or  a,  as 
"Drink,  drank,  drunk  or  drank."  Usage  differs  a  little  on  these,  but  sometimes  both  forms 
are  right.  In  the  example  given  above  some  use  "drank"  in  both  past  tense  and  past  participle, 
to  avoid  confusion  with  the  adjective  "drunk,"  but  "drunk"  in  the  past  tense  is  obsolete. 
The  following  table  will  show  the  preferred  usage  with  most  of  these  verbs : 

drink  drank  drunk 

sing  sang  or  sung  sung 

sink  sank  or  sunk  sunk 

spring  sprang  or  sprung  sprung 

swim  swam  or  swum  swum 

"Read"  has  the*  same  form  in  all  three  parts,  but  the  two  past  forms  are  pronounced 
with  the  short  sound  of  e.  "Eat"  is  peculiar  in  having  "eat,  ate,  eaten,"  and  it  is  incorrect 
to  say,  "He  has  eat  it  all  up,"  and  "When  he  eat  his  breakfast  yesterday  morning,  etc."  is 
an  obsolete  use  of  "eat." 

Those  who  are  in  the  habit  of  reading  standard  literature  with  some  thought  for  the 
values  of  words  will  seldom  err  in  the  use  of  the  irregular  verbs.  "I  done  it"  seems  to  be 
the  chief  survival  of  barbarism  among  persons  of  more  or  less  education.  "I  seen"  is  a 
sign  of  gross  ignorance. 


LESSON  XVII  (Continued).    Punctuation— the  Dash  and  the  Parenthesis. 

The  dash  indicates  an  abrupt  change  in  the  grammatical  construction,  or  in  the  flow 
of  thought.  When  a  wholly  disconnected  clause  is  thrown  into  a  sentence  it  may  be 
preceded  and  followed  by  a  dash,  or  it  may  be  inclosed  within  parentheses.  Usually  in 
place  of  a  dash  at  each  end  we  substitute  the  two  parts  of  a  parenthesis.  The  effect  is 
the  same. 

The  dash  is  often  united  with  the  comma.  A  comma  and  a  dash  are  used  in  place 
of  a  colon  in  introducing  a  quotation  in  an  easy  and  flowing  manner,  the  colon  being 
reserved  for  formal  introductions.  Formerly  nearly  all  quotations  were  introduced  by 
colons,  but  now  the  comma  and  dash  are  preferred  in  ordinary  cases. 

Any  abrupt  change  in  the  middle  of  a  sentence  is  usually  indicated  by  a  comma  and 
a  dash. 

Such  phrases  as  "Dear  Sir"  at  the  beginning  of  a  letter  may  be  followed  either  by  a 
colon  or  by  a  comma  and  a  dash.  The  colon  is  general  in  business  letters,  the  comma 
and  dash  in  social.  In  Europe  a  comma  alone  is  used. 

When  a  sentence  is  brought  to  an  abrupt  termination,  being  completely  broken  off, 
a  dash  of  double  length  is  used. 

Examples:     All  this  story  was  about what  do  you  think? 

Well 1  don't  know that  is no,  I  cannot  accept  it. 

"Gentlemen,  I  swear  by  all "     But  the  sentence  was  never  finished. 

The  dash  is  also  used  in  much  the  same  way  that  the  colon  is,  to  indicate  equality, 
especially  in  summarizing.  Macaulay  uses  it  in  this  way  constantly. 

Examples:  Now,  every  man  pursues  his  own  happiness  or  interest — call  it  which 
you  will. 

They  have  already  made  the  science  of  political  economy — a  science  of  vast  impor- 
tance to  the  welfare  of  the  nations — an  object  of  disgust. 

For  all  possible  checks  may  be  classed  under  two  heads, — want  of  will  and  want 
of  power. 

What  Lord  Bacon  blames  in  the  schoolmen  is  this, — that  they  reason  syllogistically  on 
words  which  had  not  been  defined  with  precision. 

A  parenthetical  clause  within  another  of  the  same  kind  must  be  indicated  by  some 
other  marks  than  those  used  to  indicate  the  larger.  We  may  alternate  dashes  and  marks 
of  parenthesis,  and  in  case  of  necessity  we  may  use  square  brackets. 

Brackets  are  regularly  used  to  indicate  words  thrown  into  quotations  by  the  writer 
who  quotes.  Sometimes  these  words  are  comments,  sometimes  words  supplied  to  complete 
the  meaning. 

Example:  Compare  the  following  account  of  Lord  Palmerston:  "I  have  heard  him 
[Lord  Palmerston]  say  that  he  occasionally  found  that  they  [foreign  ministers]  had  been 
deceived  by  the  open  manner  in  which  he  told  them  the  truth." 

When  parenthetical  words  are  not  very  different  from  the  text,  dashes  should  be 
used;  when  the  difference  is  greater,  the  curved  marks  of  parenthesis  are  to  be  employed; 
and  brackets  are  to  be  used  only  when  special  occasion  requires  them. 

(OVER) 


EXERCISES  ON   THE  DASH  AND   PARENTHESIS. 

The  dash  is  greatly  overworked  in  business.  It  should  usually  be  employed  only  to 
indicate  an  abrupt  transition  and  as  a  mild  form  of  the  colon.  Explain  why  the  dash 
is  required  in  the  following: 

It  should  be  shorter,  on  different-colored  paper,  with  different  style  of  type — otherwise 
the  man  who  gets  it  will  say,  "Oh,  another  letter  about  that  project — I  know  all  about 
it  already!" 

It  sets  a  date— May  30. 

The  first  is  devoted  to  the  question  of  delay — putting  the  matter  off. 

The  card  might  read:     Have  you  any  interest  in  the  subject  of  ? 

Note. — Observe  that  the  writer  wraps  his  hints  in  a  cloud  of  words. 

A  headline:     Giving  a  letter  the  proper  tone — how  to  write  to  your  superior. 

Eldridge  is  doing  very  well, — better  than  I  expected. 

I  have  just  been  reading  your  enthusiastic  letter  in  regard  to  work  in  February — Hoyt 
month — and  I  feel  you  are  going  to  make  a  record  we  shall  all  be  proud  of. 

To  believe  your  own  thought,  to  believe  that  what  is  true  for  you  in  your  private 
heart  is  true  for  all  men, — that  is  genius. — Emerson. 

You  can  get  almost  fifty  per  cent  more  out  of  your  letters  than  you  do  to-day — almost 
every  business  man  can — and  what  would  that  mean  to  your  salary  or  dividends? 

The  following  is  an  example  of  a  business  letter  in  which  the  dash  is  used  to  excess. 
Rewrite  this  letter  substituting  some  other  punctuation  mark  for  the  dash  wherevej  you 
think  such  a  change  ought  to  be  made: 

I  shall  receive  from  the  printers  Thursday  a  few  advance  copies  of  J.  M.  Coates' 
"How  to  Make  a  Factory  Pay" — a  business  book  that  I  honestly  believe  will  save  you 
more  money — will  do  more  to  protect  your  whole  business  system — than  any  other  book 
in  print.  I  want  you  to  see  for  yourself  how  it  tells — fully. — explicitly — exactly  how  to 
manage  and  systematize  a  modern  business. 

Think  of  it !  Two  dollars — the  mere  price  of  a  handful  of  cigars — for  the  lifetime  expe- 
rience of  the  highest-salaried  factory  specialist  in  the  country !  And  when  I  make  an 
offer  so  fair  and  liberal — when  you  do  not  even  run  a  risk  in  sending  for  the  book — can't 
I  send  it  to  you  for  criticism  next  week? 

Insert  dashes  into  the  following  where  you  think  they  are  required: 

Look  on  every  small  order  as  a  test,  an  experiment,  which  may  lead  to  the  largest 
at  any  rate  to  a  large  total  in  a  year. 

But  it  will  pay  just  as  well  to  give  them  to  the  reasonable  customer  probably  it  will 
pay  better. 

They  are  usually  too  long  so  long  that  the  length  shows  on  the  face  of  it  that  the 
letter  is  a  printed  form. 

Then  write  another  letter  to  another  man  you  know,  a  different  man. 

An  ideal  premium  is  one  that  many  people  want  but  which  costs  the  giver  very  little 
far  less  than  it  would  cost  the  retail  purchaser. 

I  speak  not  of  your  grown  porkers  things  between  pig  and  pork  those  hobbledehoys 
but  a  young  and  tender  suckling.  Lamb. 

Carlyle  aptly  says  "The  healthy  know  not  of  their  health,  but  only  the  sick." 

(Lesson  XVII,  page  4) 


Extra  lesson  and  review :  Write  out  Exercise  VI,  Grammar,  page  60. 
LESSON  XVIII.    Pronouns. 

See  Grammar,  sections  55-59,  pp.  61-65. 

What  are  the  first  personal  pronouns,  and  to  what  do  they  refer? 

What  are  the  second  personal  pronouns,  and  what  are  their  antecedents? 
Mention  half  a  dozen  pronouns  in  the  third  person? 

To  what  do  third  personal  pronouns  refer,  or  how  may  you  know  what  their  antecedents 
are? 

Rewrite  the  following  so  that  it  will  be  clear  to  what  each  pronoun  refers : 
The  magician  invited  Aladdin  to  go  with  him  into  the  country.  He  was 
rather  pleased  at  the  idea  and  accompanied  him.  After  they  had  passed  through 
a  number  of  gardens  and  got  out  into  the  country,  he  told  him  to  gather  sticks 
and  build  a  fire,  which  he  did.  Then  he  threw  powder  into  the  fire  and  a 
door  with  an  iron  ring  appeared.  This  he  bade  him  lift,  but  he  was  afraid 
to  do  so  at  first.  However,  he  soon  made  the  attempt  and  descended  into 
the  ground. 

Correct  the  following: 

There    was     a    gay    party    of     three    girls    and    as    many    boys.        Each    of    them 

brought  their  lunch,  and  viand  after  viand  made  their  way  down  hungry  throats. 
Every  one  of  the  girls  could  swim  and  had  brought  their  bathing  suit,  and  all 
the  boys  took  off  their  coats  preparing  themselves  to  row  down  the  lake.  None 
of  them  was  afraid  of  exercise,  and  both  Helen  and  John  were  champion  rowers. 
Either  of  them  manages  a  sailboat  perfectly,  and  each  of  the  others  are  able  to 
row.  None  failed  to  do  his  best,  and  all  had  a  glorious  time. 

Many  a  woman  would  give  their  lives  for  their  children. 
If  any  one  has  not  finished  let  them  hold  up  their  hands. 
Every  householder  must  pay  their  water-tax  before  the  I2th 
Nobody  went  out  of  their  way  to  be  cordial. 


Grammar,  pp.  61-65.  Lesson  XVIII. 

As  we  know,  a  pronoun  is  a  word  which  stands  for  a  noun ;  and  it  requires  little 
reflection  to  show  how  very  important  it  is  that  we  should  know  clearly  for  what  noun  each 
pronoun  stands. 

Every  pronoun  must  agree  with  its  antecedent  in  every  respect,  and  the  relationship  must 
be  easily  and  clearly  traced,  without  danger  of  confusion. 

We  usually  have  no  special  difficulty  in  knowing  to  whom  the  first  and  second  persons 
refer,  for  one  is  the  person  speaking,  and  the  other  the  person  spoken  to,  the  two  chief 
actors  in  every  dialogue,  the  rhetorical  essentials  in  every  written  or  spoken  discourse. 

Pronouns  of  the  third  person,  however,  are  used  so  numerously,  and  even  in  the  same 
sentence  refer  so  variously  to  different  persons  and  objects,  that  confusion  is  not  only  easy, 
tut  inevitable  unless  the  greatest  care  is  taken.  Here  is  a  sentence  from  Lane's  translation 
of  the  "Arabian  Nights":  "Aladdin  was  so  frightened  at  what  he  saw  that  he  would  have 
run  away;  but  as  he  was  to  be  serviceable  to  the  magician,  he  caught  hold  of  him,  scolded 
him,  and  gave  him  such  a  box  on  the  ear  that  he  knocked  him  down,  and  had  like  to  have 
beat  his  teeth  down  his  throat."  We  have  to  reflect  a  little  to  be  sure  to  which  of  the 
persons  all  the  he's  and  kirn's  refer. 

In  a  case  of  this  kind  we  may  sometimes  use  consistently  the  nominative  of  the  pronoun 
to  refer  to  one  of  the  persons  throughout  the  sentence,  and  the  objective  form  to  refer  to 
the  other;  but  in  the  sentence  above  we  note  that  the  first  he  in  italic  refers  to  Aladdin,  and 
the  second,  the  subject  of  the  next  clause,  refers  to  magician;  and  the  confusion  grows  to 
the  end. 

Of  course  all  nouns  denoting  male  sex  will  be  referred  to  by  he  and  him  (in  the 
singular),  those  denoting  female  sex  will  be  referred  to  by  she  and  her  (in  the  singular), 
and  those  denoting  no  sex  at  all,  by  it  or  similar  sexless  prououn.* 

If  the  pronoun  refers  to  "man  or  woman,"  the  masculine  form  must  be  used,  as  in 
"Each  of  the  assembled  throng  expressed  his  opinion"  (unless  the  "throng"  happened  to  be 
composed  entirely  of  women). 

In  referring  to  children  we  usually  use  the  neuter  form,  and  refer  to  them  by  the 
use  of  */  and  zvhich. 

We  must  be  very  careful  in  the  use  of  pronouns  referring  to  persons  or  objects 
described  as^  each,  every,  etc.,  the  singular  pronoun  being  required  in  all  these  cases.  The 
proper  possessive  to  use  in  referring  to  one  is  one's,  though  his  is  used  by  many  writers ;  for 
example,  we  may  say,  "In  a  Western  mining  town  one  cannot  expect  to  have  everything  one's 
own 'way,"  or  "his  own  way." 

As  a  pronoun  "takes  the  place  of  a  noun,"  it  is  very  improper  to  use  a  pronoun  when 
the  noun  itself  is  present  to  fulfil  its  own  duties.  The  most  frequent  confusion  arises  when 
we  use  the  participle  in  a  form  in  some  ways  resembling  the  absolute  use,  as  "The  candidate, 
being  elected,  was  dragged  all  around  the  town  by  the  excited  citizens,"  not  "The  candidate 
being  elected,  he  was  dragged,"  etc.  No  educated  person  would  say,  "The  man,  he  knocked 
me  down,"  but  in  more  obscure  cases  like  the  one  cited  above,  errors  are  frequently  made. 

Besides  the  personal  pronouns,  we  have  "adjective  pronouns,"  or  adjectives  sometimes 
used  as  pronouns,  like  each,  some,  any,  etc.  That,  this,  those,  these  when  used  as  pronouns 
are  called  demonstrative  pronouns.  The  intensive  pronouns  himself,  herself,  yourselves,  etc., 
may  usually  be  construed  as  adjectives  or  words  in  apposition. 

*  Most  grammarians  deduce  from  these  sex  pronouns  that  the  English  language  has  "gen- 
der." This  is  not  the  fact,  however.  Nouns  in  English  have  no  gender  except  as  they  refer  Spe- 
cifically to  males  or  females,  or  to  objects  personified  by  a  figure  of  speech, 


LESSON  XVIII   (Continued).     Punctuation — the  Hyphen. 

The  hyphen  is  used  at  the  end  of  a  line  when  a  word  is  broken  off  and  a  part  of 
it  is  placed  on  the  next  line.  Examples  of  this  are  common  in  every  printed  book.  It  is 
to  be  noted  that  the  hyphen  can  never  be  placed  at  the  beginning  of  the  next  line,  as 
some  uneducated  people  would  place  it.  Moreover,  a  word  can  be  broken  only  on  a 
syllable,  and  the  division  of  words  into  syllables  must  be  well  understood  if  the  hyphen 
is  to  be  used  correctly  at  the  end  of  a  line. 

Hyphens  are  also  used  in  compound  words.  When  two  words  first  unite  they  are 
commonly  joined  by  a  hyphen.  After  a  time  the  hyphen  is  omitted.  Thus  police-man 
once  appeared  in  the  dictionary  with  a  hyphen,  but  it  is  never  so  written  to-day.  Usually 
it  is  necessary  to  refer  to  the  dictionary  to  find  out  the  proper  way  to  write  all  compound 
words  or  words  that  may  be  compound.  The  black  hyphen  mark  is  used  in  the  dictionary 
to  indicate  that  the  hyphen  is  always  to  be  written,  the  light  hyphen  mark  merely  to  divide 
the  syllables. 

To-day,  to-morrow,  to-nigH,  etc.,  are  properly  written  with  the  hyphen,  though  nowa- 
days many  omit  it. 

When  a  noun  is  followed  by  a  present  participle,  the  whole  forming  a  verbal  noun, 
the  noun  and  the  participle  are  commonly  united  by  a  hyphen,  as  in  the  case  of  story-writing, 
well-digging,  etc.  An  adjective  preceding  a  verbal  noun  (present  participle),  or  indeed 
any  noun,  should  never  be  united  to  that  noun  by  a  hyphen. 

There  is  a  great  difference  between  a  "green  house"  and  a  "greenhouse,"  a  "poor  farm" 
and  a  "poor-farm." 

When  a  noun  preceded  by  an  adjective  is  used  as  a  sort  of  compound  adjective,  the 
two  words  (noun  and  adjective)  are  united  by  the  hyphen.  For  example,  common  sense 
used  as  a  noun  and  adjective  should  never  be  united  in  any  way,  either  by  a  hyhpen  or  by 
being  written  as  one  word.  But  common-sense  reasoning  is  a  phrase  in  which  the  noun 
sense  united  with  its  adjective  becomes  itself  an  adjective.  In  the  case  of  short  story 
writing,  our  principles  would  require  a  hyphen  between  story  and  writing  and  also  between 
short  and  story.  But  this  would  make  a  combination  too  long  to  be  elegant,  and  so  the 
hyphen  should  properly  be  omitted  in  both  cases. 

The  hyphen  is  used  to  separate  prefixes  when  emphasis  is  placed  upon  them  so  as  to 
suggest  contrast,  as  in  under- estimate  and  over-estimate,  though  either  word  may  omit  the 
hyphen  if  there  is  no  emphasis  or  suggestion  of  contrast.  Re-creation  means  creating  again, 
but  recreation  means  having  a  good  time. 

When  an  adjective  is  used  before  a  past  participle  in  place  of  an  adverb,  as  the  idiom 
of  our  language  permits,  we  must  always  unite  it  to  the  participle  by  a  hyphen,  else  we  may 
seem  to  be  committing  the  grammatical  fault  of  making  an  adjective  modify  a  verb.  We 
may  say  gaily  colored  in  which  we  use  an  adverb  before  the  past  participle,  or  we  may 
'write  gay-colored  and  make  a  compound  adjective.  When  the  word  before  the  participle 
is  an  adverb  in  fact,  it  is  a  mistake  to  unite  it  to  the  participle  by  a  hyphen.  We  say  "a 
well  dressed  man,"  though  many  persons  have  a  tendency  to  insert  a  hyphen  between  well 
and  dressed. 

When  a  phrase  is  used  as  if  it  were  a  single  word,  its  parts  should  be  united  by  hyphens, 
as  "He  gave  me  a  straight-from-the-shoulder  blow."  Such  prhases  are  usually  adjectives, 
and  when  they  are  not  used  as  adjectives  the  hyphens  may  often  be  omitted  with  advantage. 

In  general  the  hyphen  means  unity,  oneness  of  idea,  and  in  so  far  as  two  or  more 
words  run  together  to  form  one  conception,  they  require  a  hyphen  until  they  have  been 
used  so  long  we  do  remember  that  they  were  originally  two  words.  Thus  we  write — ten- 
acre  lot,  two-foot  rule,  a  first-rate  book,  a  bank-book,  controller-general,  file-card,  folding- 
machine,  hat-maker,  death-trap,  mail-carrier. 

(OVER) 


When  there  are  various  kinds  of  things  designated  by  the  same  word  but  distinguished 
by  the  word  that  goes  before,  the  mind  instinctively  rebels  against  the  use  of  a  hyphen. 
Mr.  Brander  Matthews  has  tried  in  vain  to  tell  us  we  ought  to  write  the  short-story  because 
that  is  a  distinct  species,  and  Mr.  Lewis  talks  about  the  form-letter  because  that  is  a  well- 
defined  type.  So  long  as  there  are  in  the  common  view  other  stories  besides  short  stories 
and  other  letters  besides  form  letters,  we  don't  do  what  was  done  in  forming  bank-book 
which  does  not  in  any  way  suggest  grocery  book  (at  grocery  stores  we  use  a  pass-book) 
or  anything  else  from  which  we  must  constantly  distinguish  bank-book.  That  is  why  we 
write  apple  tree  without  a  hyphen, — because  we  are  always  distinguishing  the  apple  tree 
from  the  pear  tree  or  the  peach  tree,  and  the  simple  adjective  ununited  is  required  to  make 
this  distinction  in  the  best  way. 

Summary  of  rules  for  the  Hyphen:  1.  To  break  words  at  the  ends  of  lines;  2.  To 
unite  nouns  to  present  participles  so  as  to  form  single  words;  3.  To  unite  adjectives  to 
past  participles  so  as  to  form  a  compound  adjective;  4.  To  unite  the  words  of  a  phrase 
so  the  phrase  may  be  used  as  a  single  word;  5.  To  unite  nouns  to  nouns  to  suggest 
singleness  of  idea  when  the  first  noun  modifies  the  second  as  an  adjective  and  there  is  no 
reason  to  distinguish  different  common  varieties  of  the  thing  indicated  by  the  second  noun. 

EXERCISES   ON   WORDS   OFTEN   MISUSED 

See  Dictionary  of  Errors,  page  123  (last  line),  or  How  to  Do  Business  by  Letter,  pages 
113,  122,  129,  138. 

How  do  you  properly  "retire"?  Are  bonds  properly  "retired"?  Do  you  say  of  a  young 
girl  that  she  has  a  "retiring"  nature? 

What  small  word  is  always  required  before  "reverend"  and  "honorable"  used  as  titles? 

What  is  the  difference  between  "riding"  and  "driving"? 

Why  would  it  not  be  correct  to  ask  "What  quantity  of  fishes  have  you  caught  to-day"? 

What  things  can  you  "settle"  and  what  can't  you  "settle"? 

What  is  the  difference  between  "sewage"  and  "sewerage"? 

Carefully  distinguish  "sit"  and  "set."  Which  takes  an  object?  What  is  the  past  tense 
of  each?  What  does  a  hen  do?  What  does  the  sun  do?  What  does  a  coat  do? 

What  is  the  difference  between  "art"  and  "science"?     Give  illustrations. 

What  is  the  difference  between  "seem"  and  "appear"? 

Give  half  a  dozen  examples  illustrating  as  many  different  ways  of  using  "shall"  and 
"will"  correctly. 

What  is  the  difference  between  "sick"  and  "ill"? 
Why  is  "not  a  single  one"  or  "not  a  single  individual"  incorrect? 
When  is  "as  much  as  "  required  and  when  "so  much  as"? 
What  is  the  difference  between  "solicitude"  and  "solicitation"? 

Illustrate  the  incorrect  use  of  "so  much  so"  and  give  an  example  of  the  correct  use. 
Is  it  proper  to  say  "some  better"?    What  word  is  required? 
What  is  the  difference  between  "state"  and  "say"? 
Illustrate  the  difference  between  "stimulus"  and  "stimulant." 
Do  you  "stop"  or  "stay"  at  a  hotel?    Why  is  one  right,  the  other  wrong? 
Give  some  examples  of  the  incorrect  use  of  "that." 

Explain  and  illustrate  fully  when  one  should  use  each  of  the  relative  pronouns  "that," 
"which,"  and  "who." 

When  should  "the"  be  repeated  before  a  second  noun  joined  to  a  preceding  by  and? 
Why  is  "those  kind"  or  "these  kind"  incorrect? 

(Lesson  XVIII,  page  4) 


LESSON  XIX.     Pronouns. 

Rewrite  the  following  correctly: 

Neither  Lincoln  nor  Washington  failed  to  serve  (their— his)  country  when  (their— his) 
country  needed  (him — them). 

Let  each  do  (their — his)  best. 

Nobody  should  pay  (himself — themselves). 

The  class  has  elected  (its — their)  president. 

Every  man  and  woman  must  do  (his — her — their)  own  work  in  the  world. 

The  moon  revolves  around  the  earth,  giving  (her — its)  cool  yellow  light  by  night,  while 
the  sun  gives  (his — its)  torrid  rays  by  day. 

The  ship  bears   (herself — itself)   right  royally. 

The  hen  gathers  (her — its)  brood  under  (her — its)  wing. 

Fill  the  following  blanks  with  the  proper  pronouns : 

Sir,  -    -  shalt  bow  neck  to  my  hand  yet,  and  I  will  make  wish  (had— 

hadst)   never  been  born. 

Dost  talk  of  revenge? conscience  has  grown  dull. 

Correct  the  pronouns  in  the  following: 

Mrs.  Daniels  presents  her  compliments  to  Mr.  Jones,  and  says  if  you  don't  return  my 
garden  hose  instanter  I  will  have  you  arrested. 

None  of  us  knows  oneself  well  enough  to  say  what  we  will  do  in  any  given  circum- 
stances. 

Neither  of  the  three  was  my  friend. 

Either  Jenny  or  John  or  Harry  will  be  glad  to  do  your  errand  for  us. 

When  you  have  looked  the  book  over  you  may  return  it  to  myself. 

It  was  me  who  called  you. 

Us  boys  are  having  a  fine  time. 

Ourselves  the  glory  win  or  lose. 

Such  girls  as  her  are  not  fit  to  associate  with. 


Grammar,  pp.  61-65   (cont.)  (Lesson  XIX.) 

The  relative  pronoun  performs  the  office  of  conjunction  connecting  a  subordinate 
sentence  to  the  principal  sentence,  as  well  as  that  of  pronoun  in  taking  the  place  of  a  noun. 
The  relative  may  even  take  the  place  of  a  pronoun  of  the  first  or  second  person.  In  that  case 
the  verb  following  the  relative  must  correspond  in  person  to  the  pronoun  of  which  the 
relative  is  taking  the  place.  Thus  we  would  say,  "I,  who  love  you,  can  best  judge  you," 
not  "I,  who  loves  you,"  etc. ;  and  "Thou,  that  lovest  me,"  etc. 

The  pronoun  who  always  refers  to  persons,  which  to  things.  We  say  nowadays,  "Our 
Father  who  art  in  heaven,  hallowed  be  Thy  name,"  though  in  former  times  which  was  allow- 
able and  we  find  it  in  the  King  James  version  of  the  Bible. 

Which  may  refer  to  persons  in  distinguishing  between  two  or  several,  as  when  we 
say,  "I  cannot  tell  zvhich  of  the  girls  I  prefer."  It  is  also  regularly  used  in  referring 
to  children,  as  stated  above.  It  should  always  be  used  in  referring  to  animals.  The  use  of 
who  or  whom  where  we  should  expect  which  indicates  personification  of  the  object  referred 
to,  or  an  implied  comparison  to  a  person. 

Who  has  whom  as  its  objective  case,  and  the  case  must  always  be  determined  by 
the  construction  of  the  sentence,  principal  or  subordinate,  in  which  it  stands.  Thus  we  say, 
"I  will  give  it  to  you  who  are  so  worthy  of  it,"  but  "I  will  give  it  to  you  whom  I  consider 
worthy  of  it." 

Whose  is  the  possessive  form  for  both  who  and  what,  though  whose  in  the  sense  of 
of  which  is  nearly  obsolete. 

That  as  a  relative  pronoun  refers  either  to  persons  or  to  things. 

What  is  equivalent  to  that  which,  and  its  antecedent  is  often  a  general  idea,  sometimes 
expressed  in  the  portion  of  the  sentence  which  follows.  Thus  in  the  sentence,  "What 
concerns  you,  concerns  me,"  we  see  that  the  subject  of  the  second  concerns  is  the  that  implied 
in  what,  and  the  antecedent  is  some  such  general  notion  as  "thing." 

Who,  which,  and  what  may  be  used  interrogatively,  and  of  course  they  are  governed 
by  the  expected  answer. 


LESSON  XIX   (Continued).     Punctuation — Exercises  on  the  Hyphen. 


Consider  each  of  the  following  words  and  give  a  good  reason  why  the  hyphen  was  used 
or  why  it  was  omitted : 


addressing-machine 

anybody 

any  one 

anything 

baggage-check 

baggageman 

balance   sheet 

ball-bearing 

bank-book 

bank-bill 

bedroom 

beeswax 

bell-boy 

blacksmith 

block  tin 

blotting-paper 

bookbinder 

by-product 

cabinet-maker 

clearing-house 

copybook 

deckle-edged 

I  am  going  down  town 

Your  down-town  address 

engine-room 

everybody 

An  every-day  affair 

We  do  it  every  day 

Every  one 

expressman 

facsimile 

fire    clay 

foolscap 

foot-note 

gaslight 

gas  stove 

gateman 

good-bye 

good-for-nothing 

graniteware 

handbag 

vice  president 

typewriter 

under-estimate 

under-expose 

working  class 

workshop 


handwriting 

hat-maker 

hat-store 

headline 

hothouse 

house-fly 

letterhead 

letterpress   (printed  matter) 

low-pressure 

lumberman 

lumberyard 

machine-made 

machine-shop 

master  printer 

money-lender 

newsboy 

newspaper 

newsstand 

oil-can 

oilcloth 

old-timer 

outgoing 

It  is  an  overcharge 

He  over-charged  me 

over-confident 

over-production 

piece-work 

pin-money 

pocket   edition 

pocket-knife 

postal  card 

post  card 

post  office 

postman 

postmaster 

price-list 

proofreader 

proof-sheets 

receipt-book 

return  ticket 

road-bed 

rolling-stock 

salesman 

sales  manager 

saleswoman 

sample-card 

school  district 


(OVER) 


schoolroom  southeast 

schoolteacher  stock-market 

schoolboy  stock-room 

second-hand  subject-matter 

showcase  two  thirds 

show-window  three-quarter  length 

silverware  time-table 

Divide  the  following  words  into  syllables:  advantage,  appellant,  financier,  fortune, 
foundation,  further,  grammar,  important,  Indian,  market,  million,  plaintiff,  actress,  butcher, 
children,  frustrate,  instructor,  pitcher,  business,  colonel,  double,  mobile,  noisy,  patron, 
product,  progress,  trouble,  woman. 

It  is  foolish  to  agree  that  a  "gas-stove"  is  one  that  uses  gas,  while  a  "gas  stove"  is  one 
made  of  gas,  for  the  very  idea  of  a  stove  made  of  gas  is  too  absurd  even  to  think  of. 
Metonomy  is  a  universal  figure  of  speech  and  well  understood. 

EXERCISES   ON   WORDS   OFTEN   MISUSED 

See  Dictionary  of  Errors,  page  132,  or  How  to  Do  Business  by  Letter,  pages  139,  147. 

What  is  a  split  infinitive?  When  should  it  be  avoided?  Is  it  ever  justified?  Give 
an  example. 

Why  is  "Where  are  you  going  to?"  incorrect? 

Give  a  correct  example  of  the  use  of  "transpire." 

What  objection  is  there  to  "twice  over"? 

Why  is  "understand  about"  incorrect? 

Why  is  "United   States"  singular? 

What  objection  is  there  to  "universally  by  all"?    What  is  "tautology"? 

Give  examples  illustrating  the  difference  between  "use"  and  "usage." 

What  is  the  difference  between  "veracity"  and  "truth"? 

Illustrate  the  difference  between  "venal"  and  "venial." 

Why  is  "very  pleased'  incorrect?     What  is  the  correct  form? 

What  is  the  objection  to  "a  great  ways  off"?    What  is  the  correct  form? 

What  is  the  objection  to  "but  what"?  What  part  of  speech  is  each  word?  Is  "what" 
ever  used  as  a  conjunction?  Is  "that"?  What  is  the  correct  form? 

Why  is  "from  whence"  wrong?  Was  it  ever  correct?  In  what  good  "book  do  we 
find  it? 

Give  examples  of  the  correct  and  incorrect  use  of  the  interrogatives  "who"  and  "whom." 

Illustrate  the  difference  between  "whole"  and  "entire." 

What  is  the  possessive  case  of  "which"? 

Why  is  "widow  woman"  objectionable? 

Explain  and  illustrate  the  difference  between  "without"  and  "unless." 

Note. — While  certain  idioms  in  common  use  have  been  criticised  by  purists,  it  seems 
advisable  not  to  insist  too  much  on  these  criticisms,  since  the  student  may  feel  that  they 
are  unpractical  and  captious,  and  so  involuntarily  drift  into  complete  neglect  of  the  rhetorical 
criticism  of  words.  Attention  has  been  called  to  most  of  these  cases  in  the  Dictionary  of 
Errors,  and  in  passing  the  teacher  should  refer  to  them.  The  most  important  matters 
have  been  brought  out  in  the  questions. 

(Lesson  XIX,  page  4) 


LESSON  XX.    Relative  Pronouns. 

Note.  When  a  relative  refers  to  both  persons  and  things,  "that"  is  preferable  to  "who" 
or  "which";  but  "that"  can  never  follow  a  preposition.  "As"  is  a  relative  pronoun  after 
"such"  and  "same." 

Supply  the  proper  relative  pronoun  in  the  following : 

Washington,  was  the  first  President,  died  in  1799. 

That  is  all  I  require. 

There  are  many  like  tea  without  sugar  or  cream. 

Cats  and  dogs,  with  our  neighborhood  is  overrun,  are  the  bane  of  my  life. 

This  crystal,  —  -  is  so  perfectly  transparent,  is  only  spar. 

He  spends  all  -   -  he  earns.     (Note.     "That"  is  often  omitted). 

The  cat Helen  gave  me  is  dead. 

There  are  many do  not  believe  he  is  honest. 

It  is  the  same  -  -  I  gave  you.  (Note.  Look  up  in  the  dictionary  the  difference  in 
meaning  between  "same  that"  and  "same  as"). 

I  trust  my  horse,  will  take  me  home  in  the  darkest  night. 

All  the  men,  horses,  and  cattle had  been  sent  aboard  were  burned. 

What  I  like  best  about  it,  and  -  -  really  appeals  to  me,  is  the  exciting  quality  of  the 
music. 

The  men,  horses,  and  wagons  you  saw  belong  to  the  army. 

The  man  money  I  have  will  return  to-day. 

The  horses  (whose — of  which  the)  harnesses  were  damaged  are  Mr.  Morgan's. 
The  plant  -   -  leaves  he  has  is  a  rare  one. 

can  this  letter  be  from? 

ever  it  is,  I  do  not  like  it. 

One  letter  was  from  a  man  I  learned  had  never  lived  in  the  city. 

He  did  not  know  as  much  about  it  as  (I — me). 
I  like  bread  and  butter  better  than  (she — her). 

do  you  think  the  boy  looks  like? 


LESSON  XX  (Continued).     Punctuation— Quotation  and  Other  Marks. 

Every  exact  quotation  should  be  inclosed  within  quotation  marks.  A  quotation  within 
a  quotation  is  inclosed  within  single  marks,  and  a  quotation  within  that  by  double  marks 
again. 

Example :    "Said  he,  "Can  you  tell  me  what  "Cut  it  out"  means  ?' " 

Each  new  paragraph  begins  with  quotation  marks  if  the  quotation  includes  several 
paragraphs,  but  only  the  paragraph  at  the  very  end  closes  with  quotation  marks. 

Slang  words  or  phrases  for  which  the  writer  does  not  care  to  take  personal  responsi- 
bility may  be  included  within  quotation  marks,  as  "Cut  it  out"  in  the  preceding  example. 
Likewise  words  used  in  peculiar  or  technical  meanings  should  be  quoted. 

Observe  that  while  commas  and  periods  are  always  printed  inside  of  quotation  marks 
whether  they  belong  there  or  not,  all  high  marks  are  put  inside  the  quotation  marks  if 
they  are  a  part  of  the  sentence  or  phrase  quoted,  and  outside  if  they  are  not  part  of  the' 
quoted  words.  Find  five  examples  of  this  rule  on  this  page  or  in  this  text. 

Any  word  mentioned  as  a  word  and  not  with  reference  to  its  meaning,  as  when  I  say 
and  is  a  conjunction,  should  always  be  distinguished  either  by  quotation  marks  or  by  being 
printed  in  italic.  Otherwise  confusion  is  sure  to  exist.  The  same  rule  applies  to  titles  of 
books  or  articles. 

An  apostrophe  is  used  not  only  as  the  sign  of  the  possessive  case  of  nouns,  but  also  to 
indicate  any  omission  of  letters  in  a  word,  as  in  the  abbreviations  "I'll"  for  "I  will,"  "ne'er" 
for  "never,"  etc. 

When  a  few  words  are  left  out  of  a  quotation,  the  places  where  the  omissions  are  made 
are  filled  with  two  or  three  periods,  or  with  stars.  These  signs  are  most  commonly  required 
in  making  long  quotations  which  must  be  condensed. 

Reference  to  notes  is  usually  indicated  by  a  star.  When  there  are  several  notes  on  the 
same  page,  the  star  is  used  for  the  first  note,  the  single  dagger  usually  for  the  second,  the 
double  dagger  for  the  third,  and  after  that  two  stars,  the  sign  for  the  paragraph,  or  other 
signs  may  be  used  as  taste  dictates.  When  the  notes  exceed  three  it  is  usually  better  to 
employ  small  superior  figures. 

In  writing,  the  sign  of  the  paragraph  may  be  prefixed  to  the  first  word  of  a  sentence 
which  the  writer  wishes  especially  to  indicate  as  the  beginning  of  a  new  paragraph.  This 
sign  is  common  when  indentation  has  been  forgotten  or  overlooked,  or  is  not  sufficiently 
clear. 

The  use  of  special  signs  will  be  found  fully  explained  at  the  back  of  Webster's 
Dictionary. 


READING  PROOF. 

Every  person  ought,  however,  to  know  the  printer's  proof-marks  and  be  able  to  use  them 
in  correcting  the  proof  of  an  article,  booklet,  or  advertisement.  The"  following  signs  are 
placed  in  the  margin  at  either  side,  and  the  word  or  letter  to  which  attention  is  directed 
is  underscored  or  circled.  Usually  a  line  leads  from  the  word  or  letter  to  the  mark. 

Observe — that  a  sloping  line  is  placed  at  the  right  of  any  letter  or  character  which  is 
intended  to  be  inserted  into  the  text,  but  NOT  at  the  side  of  any  sign  or  abbreviation 
indicating  what  the  printer  is  expected  to  do.  This  rule  is  not  as  generally  observed  as  it 
ought  to  be. 

(OVER) 


Words  to  go  in  italic  are  rewritten  in  the  margin  and  underscored  once,  to  go  in  small 
capitals  they  are  underscored  twice,  to  go  in  capitals  they  are  underscored  three  times,  to 
go  in  italic  capitals  they  are  underscored  four  times.  Also  the  word  or  words  in  the  text 
may  be  circled  and  a  direction  written  in  the  margin  as  "ital.,"  "sm.  c.,"  etc  . 


^  ,  o*  8  (dele).   Delete,  take  out,  or 

expunge. 

9  Turn  a  reversed  letter. 
$g  A  space,  or  more  space  between 

words,  letters,  or  lines. 
•*  or  O  Less  space,  or  no  space,  be- 

tween words  or  letters. 
L>  or  J  Carry  a  word,  fetferV  etc., 

further  to  the  left  or  to  the  right. 
D  Indent. 
"  Elevate  a  letter,  word,  or  character 

that  is  sunk  below  the  proper  level. 
t_i  Sink  or  depress  a  letter,  word,  or 

character  raised  too  high. 
|     shows  that  a  part  of  a  paragraph 

projects  laterally  beyond  the  rest. 
I    directs  attention  to  a  quadrat  or 
^space  which  improperly  appears. 

X,  or  +  directs  attention  to  a  broken 

or  imperfect  type. 
[    Bring  a  word  or  words  to  begin- 

ning of  line  ;  also,  begin  paragraph. 

Straighten   (a 
crooked'part). 


^  Print  as  a  dipnthong,  Mgature,  or 

single  character  ;  as,  ae,  //  (i.  e.\ 

print  as,  fl). 

IT  Make  a  new  paragraph. 
—  Put  in  Italic ;  also,  change  from 

Italic  to  Roman,  or  from  Roman  to 

Italic,  as  the  case  may  be. 
m  Put  in  small  capitals. 
=  Put  in  capitals* 

J@|r*  Other  marks  are  self-explana- 
tory ;  but  the  following  abbreviations 
require  explanation :  — 
wf.  Wrong  font ; — used  when  a  char* 

acter  is  of  a  wrong  size  or  style. 
tr.  Transpose. 
/.  c.  Lower  case ;  t.  e.,  put  in  small 

or  common  letters  a  word  or  a  letter 

that  has  been  printed  in  capitals  or 

small  capitals,  [tals.  I 

s.  caps. ,  or  sm.  c.   Put  in  small  capi- 1 
Qw.,  Qy.j  or  f  Query. 

s.  c.    Words  wanting,  see  copy. 


\\\ 
\\\ 


Write  the  following  with  a  capital  and  small  capital  headline,  and  correct  as  a  profes- 
sional proofreader  would  the  sixteen  distinct  errors : 

THE  CROWNING  OF  PETRARCH. 

Nothing  can  be  conceived  more  affecting  or  noble  thann  that  ceremony.  The  superb 
palaces  and  porticoes  had  by  which  rolled  the  ivory  chariots  of  Marius  and  Ceasar  had  long 
mouldered  into  dust.  The  laureled  facsces,  the  golden  eagles,  the  shouting  Legions,  the 
captives  and  the  pictured  cities  were  indeed  wanting  to  his  victorious  procession.  The 
sceptre  had  passsed  away  from  Rome.  But  she  still  retaind  the  mightier  influence  of  an 
empire  intellectual,  and  was  now  to  confer  the  prouder  reward  of  a  intellectual  triumph. 
To  the  mon  who  had  ex  tended  the  dominion  of  her  ancient  language — who  had  erected 
the  tropheys  of  philosophy  and  imagination  in  the  haunts  or  ignorance  and  ferocity,  whose 
captions  were  the  hearts  of  admiring  nations  enchained  by  the  influence  of  his  song — whose 
spoils  were  the  treasures  of  ancient  genius — the  eternal  city  offered  the  glorious  and  just 
tribute  of  her  gratitude. 

EXERCISES  ON  SPECIAL  MARKS. 

Find  a  dozen  examples  of  quotations  of  different  kinds,  and  quoted  and  italic  words  in 
this  textbook.  Then  let  the  teacher  dictate  any  exercise  page,  which  students  should  be  able 
to  write  out  correctly  as  to  paragraphing,  punctuation,  and  marks  of  all  kinds. 


(Lesson  XX,  page  4) 


LESSON  XXI.     Adverbs  and  Adjectives. 

See  Grammar,  sections  60-65,  PP-  65-68. 
Where  should  "an"  be  used  and  where  "a1'? 

What  two  ways  are  there  of  indicating  degrees  of  comparison  in  adjectives? 

How  do  most  adverbs  end? 

Mention  a  dozen  adverbs  which  do  not  end  in  ly. 

What  is  the  difference  between  an  adverb  and  an  adjective? 

Explain  the  difference  between  a  predicate  adjective  and  an  adverb. 

Are  such  words  as  "look,"  "feel,"  "taste,"  "smell,"  etc.,  usually  followed  by  adverbs  or 
adjectives?     Can  you  explain  just  why? 

Underscore  the  adjectives  and  adverbs  in  the  following,  stating  in  each  case  just  why 
an  adjective   or  an   adverb  is  required.     Rewrite  the  sentences  correctly: — 

He  is  a  fine  jumper.    He  jumps  (fine — finely). 

That  is  a  beautiful  dress.     That  dress  looks   (beautiful — beautifully). 

The  proceeding  was  very  strange.     They  acted   (strange — strangely). 

His  words  were  unkind  and  harsh.    He  spoke  (unkind — unkindly)  and  (harsh — harshly). 
His  words  sounded   (unkind  and  harsh — unkindly  and  harshly). 

The  bigger  the  engine,  the  easier  the  action.     The  bigger  the  engine,  the  (easier — the 
more  easily)  it  acts. 

He  looks   (sick — sickly). 

(Note.     Observe  that  not  all  words-  ending  in  ly  are  adverbs.     "Sickly,"  "likely,"  etc., 
are  adjectives). 

Washington  always  appeared  (calm — calmly)  before  his  soldiers. 

The  answer  was  returned  (prompt— promptly).     He  seems  (prompt— promptly)  enough. 

That  smells  (good— well).     I  feel  (good— well). 

(Note.     Observe  that  while  "good"  is   always  an  adjective,  "well"  is  sometimes  adjec- 
tive and  sometimes  adverb). 

Speak  a  little   (louder — more  loudly). 

It  was  an    (exceeding — exceedingly)   bitter  dose  to  him. 

He  can  run   (swifter — more  swiftly)   than  I. 


Grammar,  pp.  65-68.  Lesson  XXI. 

Adjectives.  Any  word  which  limits  or  qualifies  a  noun  may  properly  be  called  an 
adjective.  A  (an)  and  the  were  formerly  reckoned  a  separate  part  of  speech,  and  were  called 
articles.  They  serve  to  designate  nouns  as  taken  in  a  general  or  specific  sense,  but  their  use 
is  liable  to  no  special  confusion. 

An  is  used  before  a  word  beginning  with  a  vowel  sound.     It  is  also  properly  used 

before  the  sound  of  h  in  a  syllable  not  accented,  but  a  is  required  when  the  syllable  beginning 

with  the  sound  of  h  is  accented.     We  would  say  "a  history,"  but  "an  historical  work."    A 

is  also  used  instead  of  an  before  a  word  beginning  with  u  long,  as  "a  university,"  "a  Euro- 

'  pean,"  etc.    In  England  an  is  still  used,  though  obviously  not  euphonious. 

Closely  akin  to  the  are  the  demonstrative  adjectives  (also  used  as  pronouns)  that,  this, 
these,  those.  Of  course  the  singular  form  must  be  used  before  a  singular  noun,  and  the 
plural  form  before  a  plural  noun.  We  would  not  say  "I  do  not  like  these  kind  of  people," 
but  "this  kind." 

The  relative  pronouns  which  and  what  are  also  used  as  adjectives,  as  in  "I  do  not  know 
which  boy  to  send,"  or  "It  is  hard  to  tell  what  good  can  come  of  it." 

Most  adjectives  may  express  degree  by  what  is  called  "comparison,"  as  in  referring  to 
that  which  is  "beautiful,  more  beautiful,  and  most  beautiful."  The  adverbs  more  and  most 
indicate  these  degrees  of  comparison,  but  also  the  endings  er  and  est  may  be  used  and  really 
form  the  regular  way  of  indicating  comparison,  as  in  "great,  greater,  greatest." 

Almost  the  only  difficulty  that  arises  in  connection  with  the  comparison  of  adjectives 
is  in  choosing  between  the  endings  er  and  est  and  the  adverbs  more  and  most.  The 
determination  is  commonly  made  purely  on  the  ground  of  euphony.  If  the  endings  are 
easily  and  naturally  pronounced,  we  use  them;  if  they  are  not  easily  and  euphoniously 
pronounced,  the  two  adverbs  are  used.  We  would  ordinarily  say  "shy,  shyer,  shyest,"  but 
not  "splendid,  splendider,  splendidest."  There  are  a  few  irregular  methods  of  comparison, 
as  "good,  better,  best."  and  "bad,  worse,  worst." 

Adverbs.  Adverbs  may  regularly  be  formed  from  adjectives  by  adding  ly;  but  there 
are  many  irregular  adverbs,  such  as  very,  much,  well,  etc.,  which  are  in  some  cases  identical 
with  adjective  forms  (as  much  and  well). 

The  first  office  of  adverbs  is  to  modify  verbs,  and  as  the  notions  of  time,  place,  and 
manner  can  be  connected  as  a  usual  thing  only  with  the  notions  of  actions  or  condition  of 
being,  that  is,  with  verbs,  usually  all  words  indicating  time,  place,  or  manner  are  adverbs 
or  adverbial  phrases.  Thus  we  can  hardly  imagine  a  way  in  which  such  words  as  here, 
now,  hoiv,  etc.,  can  be  applied  to  nouns.  Some  of  these  words,  however,  may  be  applied  to 
adjectives,  and  also  to  other  adverbs.  So  we  speak  of  a  word  or  phrase  that  modifies  a  verb, 
adjective,  or  other  adverb  as  adverbial. 

We  have  seen  that  a  verb  may  be  followed  by  an  adjective  in  the  predicate,  to  express 
a  quality  or  limitation  which  is  affirmed  of  the  subject.  Such  an  adjective  really  modifies 
the  subject  through  the  verb,  and  is  in  no  sense  adverbial. 

Almost  the  only  difficulty  in  the  use  of  adverbs  comes  from  confusing  predicate 
adjectives  with  adverbs.  Often  we  see  an  adverb  where  a  predicate  adjective  is  really 
required. 

After  the  verb  to  be  and  its  parts  the  adjective  seems  so  natural  that  no  confusion  is 
likely;  but  after  some  other  verbs  whose  significance  is  varying  or  uncertain  we  often  find 
an  adverb  where  an  adjective  is  required.  We  say  "She  looks  beautiful,"  not  "beautifully," 
since  "beautiful"  is  a  quality  of  the  subject,  not  a  word  used  in  any  way  to  describe  the 
manner  of  looking.  In  the  same  way  we  would  say  "He  felt  bad,"  since  there  is  no  ques- 
tion of  his  doing  or  enduring  the  feeling  badly  or  the  reverse.  Bad  describes  his  condition, 
and  hence  must  be  an  adjective.  So  after  most  verbs  referring  to  sensations  an  adjective 
is  properly  used,  as  "It  looked  hot,"  "It  sounded  sweet,"  "It  tasted  sour,"  etc. 

Though  many  adverbs  end  in  ly,  not  all  words  ending  in  ly  are  adverbs,  as  for 
instance  likely. 

Adverbs  may  be  compared  sometimes  as  adjectives  are,  and  often  the  comparative 
form  of  the  adjective  is  used  as  the  comparative  form  of  the  adverb  without  change,  as 
"He  behaved  worse  than  ever  before."  Confusion  is  often  obviated  by  using-  the  adverbs 
more  and  most  before  the  regular  adverbial  form,  as  "He  sang  more  sweetly,  most  sweetly." 
The  comparative  endings  cannot  be  attached  to  adverbs  in  ly,  but  we  have  soon,  sooner, 
soonest  and  often,  oftener,  oftenest. 


LESSON  XXI  (Continued).     Miscellaneous  Matters  of  Form  in  Writing. 

The  following  points  are  important  to  remember: 

1.  Abbreviations  are  very  seldom  to  be  used  in  continuous  text.     In  giving  a  formal 
address  you  may  abbreviate  the  state  but  never  the  city.     "Phila."  for  "Philadelphia"  is 
bad  everywhere  and  at  all  times.    While  you  may  write,  "He  lives  at  25  Laurel  Ave."  you 
assuredly  would  not  write,  "As  I  was  strolling  down  Laurel  Ave.  the  other  day,"  but  always 
spell  the  word  out. 

2.  Figures  should  never  be  used  to  begin  a  sentence  except  occasionally  for  special 
emphasis  in  circular  letters  where  it  is  important  that  the  price  be  caught  at  the  first  glance. 
If  you  are  not  presenting  a  series  or  statistics,  small  numbers  and  round  numbers  should 
be  written  out  in  all  text,  including  the  body  of  a  letter.  Write,  "We  have  on  hand  nine 
barrels  of  pork,   and  ask  you  what  we  shall  do  with  them"    (not  "We  have  on  hand  9 
bbls."),  and  "He  said  he  needed  about  a  thousand  dollars"   (not  "about  $1,000" — that  is  a 
lazy  way  of  writing).    If  you  are  writing  statistics  and  one  exact  number  is  being  compared 
with  another,  figures  are  preferred ;  but  even  in  that  case  they  should  not  be  used  to  begin 
a  sentence.     Change  the  construction  so  that  some  other  word  comes  first,  or  else  spell  out 
the  number. 

3.  The  short  form  for  and  (&)  should  always  be  used  in  firm  names  such  as  "R.  Hoe 
&  Co.,"  "Carson,  Pirie,  Scott  &  Co."    It  should  never  be  used  in  the  body  of  a  letter,  nor 
even  in  reports  where  other  abbreviations  occur.     Etc.   is   an   abbreviation   for  the   Latin 
et  cetera  and  is  therefore  better  than  &c.  though  the  latter  is  not  wrong.    Of  course  Or  etc. 
would  be  absurd. 

4.  While  it  is  entirely  good  form  to  speak  of  "Mr.  Jones"  anywhere,  using  the  abbrevia- 
tion for  Mister,  it  is  not  good  form  to  use  the  abbreviation  for  doctor  or  professor  except 
when  the  first  name  or  initials  are  used.     We  may  say  "Dr.  Henry  Miller"  or  "Prof.  E.  J. 
McLaughlin";  but  it  is  bad  form  to  abbreviate  "Professor  McLaughlin"  or  "Doctor  Miller." 
The  title  "Reverend"  should  not  be  used  at  all  except  with  the  first  name  or  initials,  as  "the 
Rev.  Joseph  Carey,"  or  with  Mr.  as  "the  Rev.  Mr.  James."     It  is  bad  form  to  write  "the 
Rev.  Carey"  or  even  "the  Reverend  Carey."     In  the  same  way  the  English  title  "Sir"  is 
used  only  with  the  first  name,  as  "Sir  John  Barton,"  never  "Sir  Barton."     In  formal  texts 
"Reverend5  and  "Right  Reverend"  are  spelled  out  even  with  the  full  name. 

5.  Such   forms  as  "Jas.,"  "Chas.,"  "Wm."  are  allowable  abbreviations,   though  many 
owners  of  these  names  dislike  to  see  them  shortened.     They  are  to  be  followed  by  periods. 
Nicknames  like  "Tom,"  "Bill,"  or  "Bob"  are  not  abbreviations  and  are  not  followed  by  a 
period. 

6.  In  writing  the  year,  always  make  it  complete,  as   1919,  not  '19,   unless  you    are 
referring  to  your  school  class.  It  is  a  poor  way  to  write  "Jan.  15,  1911"  as  "1-15-11."     In 
the  body  of  a  letter  do  not  write  "Jan.  15,"  but  spell  out  January.     In  the  date  line  of  a 
letter  you  may  abbreviate  long  names  of  months,  but  not  such  short  names  as  May,  April,  or 
June. 

7.  The  only  abbreviations  that  are  never  spelled  out  are  Mr.,  Mrs.,  Messrs.,  Jr.,  and  Sr. 

8.  Observe  that  the  plural  of  a  figure,  letter,  or  word  used  merely  as  a  word  and  not 
with  its  ordinary  meaning  is  formed  by  adding  an  apostrophe  and  s,  as  in  the  case  of  a 
possessive.     Thus  we  say,  "Dot  your  i's,"  "Mind  your  p's  and  q's,"  "Do  not  confuse  your 
8's  and  3's,"  "Count  the  number  of  ifs  in  this  lesson." 

9.  Some  persons  form  possessives  of  names  ending  in  an  s  sound  by  adding  only  an 
apostrophe,  but  a  second  s  is  always  to  be  preferred,  as  Dickens's,  while  the  plural  would  be 
the  Dickenses,   and  the  possessive  of  the  plural   would   add  an   apostrophe  to   make    the 
Dickenses'.     There  are  a  few  phrases  which  seem  to  be  exceptions  to  these  rules,  such  as 
"for  goodness'  sake,"  "for  conscience'  sake,"  for  "for  Jesus'  sake." 

(OVER) 


Some  persons  regard  certain  apparent  possessives  as  simple  adjectives  and  omit  the 
apostrophe,  as  in  "the  Authors  Club  of  New  York."  "The  Adams  Express  Company"  is 
clearly  an  example  of  a  name  used  as  an  adjective. 

10.  Headlines    (observe  that  this  is  one  solid  word  with  no  hyphen)    in  any  article 
or  composition  should  always  be  underscored  so  there  will  be  no  possibility  of  confusing  the 
title  with  the  text.    Notice  also  that  there  are  main  heads  and  sub-heads,  and  the  main  heads 
have  two  lines  under  them,  while  the  sub-heads  have  but  one  line.     If  this  rule  is  not  fol- 
lowed there  will  be  danger  that  the  two  different  kinds  of  heads  be  confused  with  each 
other.    Pick  out  the  main  heads,  sub-heads  in  the  middle  of  a  line,  and  the  side-heads  in  this 
textbook. 

11.  When  the  is  the  first  word  of  an  actual  title,  it  should  be  capitalized;  but  when 
you  do  not  care  to  indicate  precisely  every  word  in  the  title  it  is  better  not  to  capitalize  an 
initial  the,  which  will  then  be  understood  either  to  be  or  not  to  be  part  of  the  actual  title. 
Thus  we  may  write,  "This  company  has  just  published  The  Rising  of  Helena  Ritchie"  but 
"We  'have  all  read  that  primitive  work  of  fiction,  the  Arabian  Nights  Entertainment,  which 
is  almost  as  commonly  known  as  the  Bible." 

12.  Except  in  contract  letters  and  the  like,  do  not  add  two  ciphers  after  even  dollars, 
as  "The  price  is  $1  a  dozen"  (not  "$1.00  a  doz."). 

13.  Women  do  not  seem  to  know  how  to  sign  their  names  so  strangers  are  relieved 
of  the  embarrassment  of  wondering  whether  to  address  them  as  "Miss"  or  "Mrs."     The 
really  correct  way  for  a  married  woman  to  sign  her  name  is  to  write  her  own  personal 
name  out  in  full  and  then  her  husband's  name  preceded  by  "Mrs.,"  all  in  parentheses.    E.  g. : 

Helen  Hunt  McAvoy 
(Mrs.   John    McAvoy) 

If  a  woman's  name  is  not  signed  thus  in  a  business  letter  we  may  assume  she  is  unmar- 
ried and  address  her  as  "Miss,"  but  placing  "Miss"  before  the  name  in  parentheses  in 
writing  to  strangers  m  business  is  simpler  and  more  considerate.  A  married  woman  also  may 
precede  her  name  with  "Mrs."  in  parentheses,  but  it  is  never  allowable  to  sign  the  "Mrs." 
or  "Miss"  not  in  parentheses,  and  it  is  equally  bad  form  for  a  doctor  to  sign  himself  "Dr. 
Smith"  rather  than  "Henry  Smith,  M.  D."  When  women  sign  only  initials  it  is  to  be 
supposed  they  expect  to  be  addressed  as  "Mr." 


(Lesson  XXI,  page  4) 


Extra  lesson  and  review :     Exercise  VII,  Grammar,  page  73. 

LESSON  XXII.     Conjunctions  and  Prepositions. 

See  Grammar,   sections  66-68,  pp.  68-72. 

Mark  "c."  under  each  conjunction  and  "prep."  under  each  preposition  in  the  following, 
and  state  why  one  is  a  conjunction  or  the  other  a  preposition.  Does  a  conjunction  ever  in- 
troduce an  objective  case? — 

He  likes  candy  as  well  as  I. 

Behave  yourself  like  him.     Do  as  he  does. 

No  president  except  Roosevelt  was  ever  elected  to  the  office  after  having  served  by 
reason  of  having  been  vice  president. 

Unless  ye  repent  ye  shall  surely  die. 

I  do  not  know  that  that  is  right. 

I  would  not  act  like  that  for  anything. 

Roosevelt,  than  whom  no  Republican  was  ever  more  popular  with  Democrats,  will  hard- 
ly run  for  the  Presidency  a  second  time. 

Miscellaneous.     See   Grammar,   Sections   80-88. 

What  are  the  two  objects  of  the  verb  in  the  following  and  what  are  they  called? — Give 
it  him. 

In  what  case  are  the  italicized  nouns  in  the  following  and  how  are  they  explained?  —  I 
am  going  home.  The  child  is  twelve  years  old.  He  arrived  a  day  later.  He  offered  Casar 
the  crown  three  times. 

Write  the  possessive  case  of  the  following :  Jones  &  Markham,  the  King  of  Great 
Britain,  the  President  of  the  United  States,  David  my  servant,  William  the  Conquerer. 

Improve  the  following:  My  friend's  wife's  sister,  Chamberlain  of  Birmingham's  seat, 
John's  mother's  sister's  husband's  death. 

What  is  the  difference  between  "John  and  Eliza's  fortune"  and  "John's  and  Eliza's 
fortunes"?  Would  "John's  and  Eliza's  fortune  be  correct  in  any  case? 

What  is  the  subject  of  the  following  sentence? — That  he  should  use  the  society's 
money  is  abominable. 

Which  is  correct? — "By  killing  his  victim  he  lost  all  sympathy,"  or,  "By  the  killing  of 
his  victim  he  lost  all  sympathy."  Is  it  correct  to  say,  "By  the  killing  of  his  victim  he  lost  all 
sympathy"?  What  rule  applies? 

Which  is  correct,  "I  could  not  prevent  his  doing  it,"  or,  ,"I  could  not  prevent  him  from 
doing  it"?  Why  is  it  wrong  to  say,  "I  could  not  prevent  him  doing  it"? 


Grammar,  pp.  68-72.  Lesson  XXII. 

Prepositions.  Prepositions  serve  to  introduce  nouns  to  other  nouns,  or  to  verbs, 
adjectives,  or  adverbs.  They  are  connecting  links  with  some  meaning  of  their  own,  but 
depending  largely  for  their  significance  upon  the  words  they  connect.  A  preposition  and 
its  noun,  forming  a  prepositional  phrase,  are  to  be  construed  like  an  adjective  or  an  adverb, 
and  may  modify  any  word  that  an  adjective  or  adverb  may  modify.  There  are  only  a  few 
of  them,  but  those  few  are  used  in  an  infinite  number  of  ways,  or  rather  with  an  infinite 
variation  of  values.  These  variations  can  be  mastered  only  by  long  and  thoughtful  reading 
of  standard  literature,  with  a  habit  of  observing  the  uses  of  prepositions.  Culture  in  the  use 
of  language  finds  one  of  its  highest  tests  in  the  correct  employment  of  prepositions. 

Conjunctions.  All  words  which  connect  or  introduce  sentences  have  conjunctive 
value.  Some  of  these  words  also  serve  as  pronouns,  and  we  call  them  "relative  pronouns," 
and  some  serve  as  adverbs,  and  we  call  them  "relative  adverbs."  Such  are  who,  which,  what, 
that;  and  where,  when,  while,  before,  etc.  Another  class  of  words  serves  only  to  express 
relationship  between  a  subordinate  verb  and  its  principal  verb.  Such  are  if,  unless,  whether, 
why,  that,  etc. 

We  also  have  a  class  of  words  which  serves  merely  to  associate  two  words  or  two 
clauses  or  sentences  of  equal  rank,  such  as  and,  or,  but.  These  are  conjunctions  in  their 
simplest  form.  This  class  of  conjunctions  shows  relationship  without  any  suggestion  of  de- 
pendence, and  in  that  respect  these  words  differ  from  prepositions.  The  relative  conjunc- 
tions described  above  are  very  like  prepositions,  practically  performing  for  sentences  the 
office  which  prepositions  perform  for  nouns. 

The  distinction  between  conjunctions  and  prepositions — that  prepositions  introduce 
dependent  nouns,  and  conjunctions  introduce  dependent  sentences — becomes  very  important 
in  the  case  of  two  conjunctions  of  comparison  somewhat  adverbial  in  nature,  namely  as  and 
than.  These  two  words  are  seldom  used  as  prepositions,  and  of  course  as  conjunctions  they 
always  imply  verbs  after  them.  In  many  cases  these  verbs  are  not  expressed,  and  subject1- 
or  objects  stand  without  their  verbs.  This  gives  rise  to  the  supposition  that  the  conjunctions 
are  prepositions  and  the  nouns  or  pronouns  should  be  regarded  as  objects  of  the  particle 
(as  or  them'). 

For  example,  "I  will  do  it  as  soon  as  he  (will  do  it)"  (the  first  as  is  an  adverb 
modifying  soon,  which  in  turn  modifies  the  verb  do  in  the  main  sentence,  and  the  second 
as  is  an  adverbial  conjunction  introducing  the  implied  verb  will  do,  of  which  he  is  the  subject)  ; 
"I  will  not  charge  more  than  he  (will  charge)";  etc. 

Grammar,  Sects.  80-88. 

Indirect  object.  Sometimes  after  an  active  verb  (or  one  which  is  capable  of  taking  a 
direct  object)  we  find  two  objects  which  are  certainly  in  no  way  dependent  upon,  or 
equivalent  to,  each  other.  Thus  if  we  say,  "Give  me  the  book,"  "book"  is  the  direct  object, 
but  "me"  appears  to  be  an  object,  too,  The  relation  is  clear  if  we  supply  the  preposition  to 
and  say,  "Give  (to)  me  the  book." 

Adverbial  nouns.  Many  nouns  signifying  time,  place,  etc.,  are  used  in  an  adverbial 
sense  without  prepositions.  To  all  intents  and  purposes  they  are  adverbs ;  yet  they  retain  the 
powers  of  nouns.  Examples:  "I  am  going  home";  "He  arrived  a  day  late,"  or  "a  day 
later";  "I  walked  a,  mile  to-day";  "He  offered  Caesar  the  crown  three  times'3  The  con- 
struction may  usually  be  seen  if  we  insert  a  preposition  and  other  words  and  say,  for 
example,  "I  am  going  (to  my)  home";  "He  arrived  late  (by)  a  day";  "I  walked  (for,  or 
over)  a  mile  to-day";  "He  offered  Caesar  the  crown  (to  the  number  of)  three  times." 

We  have  already  seen  that  it  is  awkward  to  repeat  the  sign  of  the  possessive,  and 
that  modifiers  of  a  possessive  cause  awkwardness.  The  usual  way  to  obviate  this  is  to 
regard  the  noun  and  all  its  modifiers  as  a  compound  word,  though  no  hyphens  be  used,  and 
place  the  sign  of  the  possessive  near  the  end  of  the  entire  expression.  Thus  we  say,  "The 
King  of  Great  Britain's  possession;"  "For  David  my  servant's  sake;"  "Give  me  John  the 
Baptist's  head;"  etc. 

The  noun  preceded  by  of  is  usually  equivalent  to  the  possessive,  and  in  case  of 
awkwardness  we  usually  change  the  form.  Thus  when  two  possessives  follow  each  other, 
we  change  one  of  them,  and  in  place  of  "my  friend's  wife's  sister,"  we  say,  "the  sister  of  my 
friend's  wife";  for  "Chamberlain  of  Birmingham's  seat,"  say  "the  seat  of  Chamberlain  of 
Birmingham." 

When  two  nouns  are  coupled,  we  may  put  the  sign  of  the  possessive  after  the  last  one 
only,  to  show  that  what  is  possessed  belongs  to  them  in  common,  as  in  "John  and  Eliza's 
fortune."  If  there  were  two  fortunes,  one  belonging  to  John  and  the  other  to  Eliza,  we 
should  indicate  it  by  saying,  "John's  and  Eliza's  fortunes." 


LESSON  XXII  (Continued).    Abbreviations. 

There  are  certain  abbreviations  that  are  so  common  that  every  one  should  know  them. 
Such  will  be  found  in  the  following  list.  Many  other  abbreviations  found  in  books,  such 
as  the  letters  indicating  honorary  degrees  and  official  titles,  may  be  looked  up  at  any  time 
in  the  dictionary.  There  is  a  special  list  of  abbreviations  in  every  good  dictionary,  usually 
at  the  back,  and  in  this  list  one  may  expect  to  find  almost  any  recognized  abbreviation. 

It  is  dangerous  to  make  abbreviations  for  oneself,  because  unless  others  understand 
them  they  will  prove  worse  than  useless.  Each  person  in  his  own  line  of  business  will  pick 
up  the  abbreviations  that  are  understood  in  that  line;  but  care  must  be  taken  not  to  use 
them  in  writing  to  persons  who  are  not  in  that  special  line  and  so  should  not  be  expected 
to  know  them. 

Avoid  abbreviating  words  where  little  or  nothing  is  gained  by  the  abbreviation,  as  in 
using  "hlf."  for  "half."  If  the  period  is  counted  as  a  character,  there  are  as  many  characters 
in  the  abbreviation  as  in  the  original.  States  containing  not  over  four  letters,  such  as  Ohio, 
Iowa,  and  Utah,  should  never  be  abbreviated. 

In  any  case,  abbreviations  are  NEVER  TO  BE  USED  in  the  bodies  of  letters  or  other 
compositions  where  the  words  are  used  but  once  in  a  continuous,  normal  sentence.  Abbre- 
viations are  for  lists,  statistics,  etc.,  where  there  is  much  repetition.  They  disfigure  plain 
text,  both  in  printing  and  in  writing. 


Account   acct.,  a/c. 

Ad  libitum   (at  pleasure) ad.  lib. 

Administrator   Admr. 

Administratrix     Admx. 

Agent Agt. 

Against    (versus) v.   or   vs. 

American    Am.  or  Amer. 

Amount   Amt. 

And  others  (et  alii) .et  al. 

Answer ans. 

Anonymous     anon. 

Arithmetic    Arith. 

Assistant  Asst. 

At  or  to  (mercantile) @ 

Attorney   Atty. 

Avenue  Av.  or  Ave. 

Balance bal. 

Bank bk. 

Barrel,  barrels bl.,  bbl.  or  bis. 

Bill  Book  B.  B. 

Bills  Payable B.  Pay. 

Bills  Receivable B.  Rec. 

Borough   Bor.  or  bor. 

Bought  bot. 

Brother,  Brothers Bro.,  Bros. 

Bushel  bu.,  bush. 

By  the  (per)    P.,  p.  or   $ 

Care    of c/o. 

Cashier    Cash. 

Cash  Book  .  C.  B. 


Charged chgd. 

Christmas    Xmas 

Clerk   elk. 

Collector    Coll. 

Congress    Cong. 

Company    Co. 

Commission  Com. 

Commerce    Com. 

Committee   Com. 

Common  Pleas C.  P. 

Congregational    Cong. 

Corresponding  Secretary Cor.  Sec. 

Corner Cor. 

County    Co.  or  co. 

Court  House C.  H. 

Credit,  creditor Cr. 

Cent,   cents ct,   cts. 

Clerk   elk. 

Cash  on  delivery C.  O.  D. 

Debtor    Dr. 

Deacon  Dea. 

Defendant     Deft. 

Ditto  (the  same) do. 

Discount   dis.  or  disc. 

District    Dist. 

Dividend    div. 

Dollar,  dollars dol.,  dols. 

Dozen    doz. 

Each    Ea. 

East,  E.;  West,  W.;  North,  N.;  South,  S. 


(OVER) 


Errors  excepted E.  E. 

Errors   and   omissions   excepted 

E.  &  O.  E. 

Et  cetera  (and  the  rest) etc.,  &c. 

Executive   Committee Ex.  Com. 

Foot  or  feet ft. 

For  example  (exempli  gratia) e.  g. 

Forward    For'd. 

Free  on  board f .  o.  b. 

Freight    Fr't. 

Gallon  gal. 

God  willing  (Deo  volente) D.  V. 

Gross    gr. 

Handkerchiefs  hdkfs. 

Hogshead  hhd. 

Hundred  C. 

Hundred  weight  cwt. 

Id  est   (that  is) i.  e. 

Incognito  (unknown) incog. 

Inches  in. 

Insurance    Ins. 

Interest int. 

Inventory   Inv. 

Invoice Inv. 

Invoice  Book  I.  B. 

Island Isl. 

esus  the  Savior  of  Men I.  H.  S. 

ournal    Jour. 

ournal   Folio    J.  F. 

unipr  Jr.  or  Jun. 

ustice  of  the  Peace J.  P. 

Lake    L. 

Ledger    L. 

Ledger  Folio   L.  F. 

Manuscript   MS.  (pi.  MSS.) 

Member  of  Congress M.  C. 

Memorandum   mem. 

Merchandise     mdse. 

Methodis   Episcopal    M.  E. 

Mountain  or  Mount Mt.  (pi.  Mts.) 

Number,  numbers No.,  Nos. 

Order  Book O.  B. 

Ounce    oz. 

Package    pkg. 

Page,  pages p.,  pp. 

Paid    pd. 

Pair pr. 

Payment    payt. 

Peck,  pecks pk.,  pks. 

Per  annum  (by  the  year) per  an. 

Per  cent  (by  the  hundred) ...  .per  cent. 

Pennyweight   pwt. 

Petty  Cash  Book P.  C.  B. 


Pint,  pints pt.,  pts. 

Plaintiff     Plff . 

Postscript  P.  S. 

Postoffice   P.  O. 

Postmaster   P.  M. 

Pound,  pounds lb.,  Ibs. 

Premium    prem. 

Presbyterian    Presb. 

Pro  tempore  (for  the  time).... pro  tem. 
Protestant    Episcopal P.   E. 

Quart,  quarts qt.,  qts. 

Quarter,  quarters qr.,  qrs. 

Railroad  R.  R. 

Railway    Ry. 

Returned ret'd. 

Received     rec'd. 

Receipt    rec't. 

Recording  Secretary Rec.  Sec. 

Right  Honorable Rt.  Hon. 

River    R. 

Roman  Catholic Rom.  Cath.  or  R.  C. 

Sales  Book S.  B. 

Secretary    Sec. 

Senior Sr.  or  Sen. 

Shipment    shipt. 

Square    sq. 

Steamship    S.  S. 

Street  or  Saint  St.  (pi.  Sts.) 

Superintendent   Supt. 

Take  Notice  (Nota  Bene) N.  B. 

Thousand    M. 

Township    tp. 

Time — Hour  h.;    minute,    min.;    second, 

sec. 

Afternoon   (post  meridiem) p.  m. 

Before  Christ   B.  C. 

By  the  year  (per  annum) per  an. 

Forenoon  (ante  meridiem) a.  m. 

In  the  Christian   Era   (Anno  Domini) 

A.  D. 

Last   month    (ultimo) ult. 

Next  month  (proximo) prox. 

Noon    (meridiem)    M. 

Month,  months mo.,  mos. 

This  month    (instant) inst. 

Year,   years. ., yr.,  yrs. 

Week wk. 

Videlicet  (namely) viz. 

Volume    ; vol. 

Weight    wt. 

Without  deduction    net. 

Yard,  yards    yd.,  yds. 

Young  M,en's   Christian  Association.. 

Y.  M.  C.  A. 

Young    Women's    Christian    Associa- 
tion .  .  Y.  W.  C.  A. 


(Lesson  XXII,  page  4) 


LESSON  XXIII.     Miscellaneous  Idioms. 

See  Grammar,  sections  89-104. 

What  nouns  can  be  used  in  the  possessive  case? 

How  do  you  justify  "Chicago's  beauty",  "the  city's  progress",  "a  day's  work",  "an  hour's 
ride"? 

What  is  the  construction  of  the  italicized  noun  in  the  following  sentence? — In  the 
battles  of  Manchuria,  four  Japanese  soldiers  were  about  equal  to  five  Russian,  a  fact  that 
not  even  the  Russians  deny. 

(Note.  Observe  that  in  such  a  sentence  it  is  not  good  usage  to  make  a  relative  pronoun 
in  apposition  with  a  whole  clause,  as  would  be  the  case  if  we  wrote  "which  not  even  the 
Russians  deny/') 

Give  an  example  of  a  sentence  in  which  two  nouns  joined  by  "and"  may  properly  be  fol- 
lowed by  a  singular  verb. 

In  "They  were  offered  a  pardon",  what  is  the  construction  of  "pardon"? 

Why  should  a  hyphen  be  used  in  "story-writing"  and  not  in  "short  story  writing"? 

What  is  the  antecedent  of  "it"  and  how  do  you  explain  the  word  in  such  sentences  as  "It 
rains",  "It  does  not  make  any  difference  to  me",  etc.  ? 

How  do  you  explain  the  double  possessive  in  "This  is  a  book  of  John's"  ?  In  what  posi- 
tions are  "hers",  "mine",  "ours",  etc.,  used  for  "her",  "my",  and  "our"? 

Give  an  example  of  a  pronoun  of  which  the  antecedent  follows  instead  of  preceding. 

What  is  the  subject  of  each  verb  in  the  following  sentence? — As  has  been  said,  every 
verb  must  have  a  subject. 

Give  an  example  of  the  historical  present. 

When  a  verb  comes  between  two  nouns,  one  singular  and  one  plural,  with  which  does  it 
agree?  Give  an  example  of  such  a  case. 

Rewrite  the  following  sentences  correctly:  The  king,  with  the  lords  and  commons, 
(forms — form)  an  excellent  frame  of  government;  When  a  single  noun,  followed  by  other 
nouns  introduced  by  "with",  (constitutes — constitute)  the  subject,  should  the  verb  be  singu- 
lar or  plural? 

Is  it  incorrect,  or  if  not  incorrect  is  it  objectionable,  to  say  "He  or  I  am  the  man",  and 
why? 

What  is  the  tense  of  the  italicized  verb  in  the  following  sentence? — He  was  gone  before 
I  got  there.  What  can  you  say  of  this  usage? 

Give  a  sentence  containing  "so  to  speak"  and  state  its  construction.  Write  a  sentence  in 
which  "go"  is  properly  followed  by  a  predicate  adjective. 


Grammar,  Sects.  89-104,  pp.  79-84.  Lesson  XXIII. 

Modern  usage  is  restricting  the  possessive  case  as  far  as  possible  to  persons,  or  at  any 
rate  to  animals,  or  inanimate  objects  which  have  been  personified.  We  may  say  "John's 
bag,"  "Alexander's  empire,"  "the  pupil's  work."  We  would  not  say  "the  pigpen's  side,"  "the 
rock's  opening,"  but  "the  side  of  the  pig-pen,"  "the  opening  of  (or  in)  the  rock,"  etc.  If 
we  say  "Chicago's  beauty"  we  seem  to  personify  the  city ;  and  perhaps  something  of  the  sort 
may  be  discerned  in  "the  city's  progress."  "The  day's  work,"  "an  hour's  ride,"  are  old  forms 
that  have  survived  so  far. 

A  noun  may  be  in  apposition,  with  a  general  idea  contained  in  a  variety  of  phrases 
and  clauses,  as  when  we  sum  up  a  long  statement  by  saying,  "a  state  of  things  which  we 
must  admit  to  be  wholly  bad";  or  "a  fact  no  one  will  deny";  or  "a  thing  which  is  obvious." 

Sometimes  one  noun  is  made  to  modify  another  as  an  adjective.  In  such  cases  there 
is  a  strong  tendency  to  run  the  two  words  into  one,  as  coalbin,  policeman,  rosebush,  etc. 
Nouns  followed  by  a  present  participle  used  as  noun  should  be  connected  with  the  participle 
by  a  hyphen,  as  story-writing,  paper-making,  etc.  But  in  short  story  writing  no  hyphen 
can  be  used,  because  short  modifies  story,  not  story-writing. 

Peculiarities  of  Pronouns. 

Though  it  is  an  established  rule  that  every  pronoun  must  have  its  antecedent  (expressed 
or  implied),  there  is  one  case  in  which  it  would  be  very  hard  to  find  anything  that  could 
be  regarded  as  antecedent.  When  we  say  "It  rains,"  "It  freezes,"  "It  looks  like  snow," 
evidently  it  is  as  nearly  devoid  of  meaning  as  a  pronoun  can  be.  It  is  merely  a  dummy 
subject  thrown  in  to  fill  up  the  gap  so  that  we  may  use  the  verb. 

When  we  say  "Here  is  a  book  of  John's,"  we  seem  to  have  a  double  possessive  in 
"of  John's,"  but  if  we  understand  that  books  is  implied — "a  book  of  John's  (books)" — the 
construction  is  clear. 

Though  the  "antecedent"  of  a  pronoun  may  follow  the  pronoun  instead  of  preceding 
it,  the  construction  should  always  be  avoided  when  that  is  possible.  When  the  antecedent 
follows  the  pronoun,  the  reader  or  listener  is  kept  in  suspense  till  the  explanation  of  the 
pronoun  is  forthcoming.  This  is  sometimes  a  justifiable  rhetorical  artifice,  as  in  this  sen- 
tence: "There  was  therefore,  which  is  all  that  we  assert,  a  course  of  life  pursued  by  them, 
different  from  that  which  they  before  led";  also  in  "I,  John,  saw  all  these  things." 

Peculiarities  of  Verbs. 

Every  verb  must  have  its  subject,  but  it  is  not  easy  to  find  the  subject  of  the  verb  in 
such  idiomatic  expressions  as  "as  follows,"  "as  appears,"  "may  be,"  etc.  Some  maintain 
that  as  is  a  pronoun  and  the  subject  of  the  verb  tl]at  follows,  some  that  the  subject  varies 
and  is  implied  from  what  goes  before. 

In  the  narration  of  past  events  we  sometimes  use  the  present  tense  for  the  sake  of 
vividness,  as  in  this  sentence :  "He  enters  the  territory  of  the  peaceable  inhabitants :  he 
fights  and  conquers,  takes  an  immense  booty,  which  he  divides  among  his  soldiers,  and 
returns  home  to  enjoy  a  vain  and  useless  triumph."  This  is  called  the  "historical  present." 

When  a  copulative  verb  like  to  be  or  any  of  its  forms  comes  between  two  nouns  (or 
pronouns),  one  of  which  is  singular  and  the  other  plural,  the  first  is  naturally  the  subject 
and  the  one  which  follows  the  verb  is  the  predicate  complement. 

When  a  single  noun,  followed  by  other  nouns  introduced  by  with,  constitutes  the 
subject,  or  when  a  combination  of  words  like  that  which  forms  the  subject  of  the  preceding 
part  of  this  sentence  itself,  stands  in  relation  to  the  verb  as  subject,  the  verb  should  be 
singular  according  to  strict  grammatical  rule. 

When  two  nouns  or  pronouns  connected  by  a  disjunctive  pronoun  (or)  form  the 
subject  of  a  verb,  the  English  idiom  requires  agreement  of  the  verb  with  the  second  or  last, 
as  in  "He  or  I  am  the  man" ;  "He  or  we  are  going  to  have  that  money."  Such  constructions 
are  manifestly  awkward,  however,  and  should  be  avoided  as  much  as  possible. 

In  such  sentences  as  those  containing  "so  to  speak,"  the  infinitive  in  English  seems 
to  be  used  independently,  very  much  as  the  participle  is  with  the  nominative  absolute. 

By  an  English  idiom  verbs  of  motion  sometimes  take  a  predicate  adjective  after  them, 
as  if  they  were  equivalent  to  to  be.  Examples :  "I  shall  go  mad  if  this  continues" ; 
"Scipio's  ghost  walks  unavenged  amongst  us" ;  "I  do  not  enjoy  going  hungry." 


LESSON  XXIII  (Continued).     Synonyms. 

If  it  were  not  for  the  fact  that  we  have  several  words  meaning  the  same  thing,  it 
would  be  impossible  to  avoid  many  very  disagreeable  repetitions.  We  are  always  in  danger 
of  using  the  same  word  over  so  many  times  that  it  jars  on  the  sensitive  ear  when  the 
sentence  or  paragraph  is  read  aloud.  Some  people  imagine  the  sounds  as  they  read  to 
themselves  and  are  offended  by  the  repetitions  even  when  they  do  not  read  the  passage  aloud. 

The  only  way  to  avoid  these  unpleasant  combinations  is  to  read  every  composition  aloud 
for  the  express  purpose  of  catching  them.  Once  you  find  them  you  have  before  you  a 
problem  in  the  choosing  of  another  word  that  will  rightly  and  suitably  express  your  meaning. 

Again,  we  must  choose  one  word  or  another  with  the  same  meaning  with  a  view  to 
getting  that  word  which  accords  best  with  the  style  we  are  writing.  For  example,  the 
Anglo-Saxon  word  begin  means  identically  the  same  as  the  Latin  word  commence.  In 
ordinary  letter  writing  and  conversation  it  is  always  best  to  use  the  Saxon  or  native  English 
word,  for  it  is  the  simplest  and  strongest.  It  is  far  better  to  say,  "I  began  to  write  this 
essay  at  seven  o'clock  this  morning"  than  to  say  "I  commenced."  On  the  other  hand,  if 
you  were  making  a  speech  where  you  wished  to  carry  along  the  swinging  rhythm  of  some- 
what elevated  sentences  you  would  find  the  Latin  word  more  harmonious.  "In  all  cases,  if 
you  had  used  begin  more  than  once  you  would  prefer  to  say  commence,  which  is  nearly  as 
good  a  word,  especially  if  it  is  not  used  in  an  emphatic  position. 

Other  words  are  used  interchangeably  when  variation  is  necessary;  but  when  they  are 
especially  emphasized  they  may  indicate  very  distinct  shades  of  meaning.  Answer  and  reply 
are  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  the  Latin  for  precisely  the  same  idea;  but  answer  has  several 
special  meanings  such  as  answer  for  and  answer  to.  If  you  ask  a  child  a  question  you  say 
to  him,  "Answer  me,"  not  "Reply  to  me";  but  you  are  more  likely  to  "reply  to  arguments," 
though  "arguments"  may  also  be  "answered." 

It  is  important  to  remember  that  differences  in  meaning  usually  have  to  be  indicated 
by  association  with  some  other  words  or  by  emphatic  positions  in  the  sentence. 

For  each  of  the  following  pairs  of  words  write  one  sentence  in  which  both  words  are 
used  with  the  same  meaning,  the  change  being  made  simply  to  avoid  an  unpleasant  repetition 
of  sound.  Then  distinguish  each  word  in  its  special  character  in  a  separate  sentence. 

abandon,  desert  response,  retort 

ability,  power  apparent,   evident 

eradicate,  root  out  apprehend,  comprehend 

absolve,   clear  arrogance,  pride 

absent-minded,  absorbed  artist,   artisan 

adept,  handy  assent,    agree 

adequate,  suitable  impertinence,  impudence 

adjacent,  near  atom,   particle 

assert,  state  attain,   accomplish 

alike,  identical  achieve,    secure 

wary,  watchful  arrive  at,  reach 

hint,  suggestion  flame,   flare 

amplify,  extend  customary,  habitual 

faultless,  flawless  fanciful,  imaginative 

likely,  probable  faithful,  loyal 

conceivable,  presumable  ignorant,  uninformed 

futile,  useless  indispensable,  necessary 

fruitless,  vain  labor,  work 

There  are  thousands  of  pairs  of  words  like  these,  and  often  six  or  eight  with  the  same 
meaning.  This  lesson  should  show  the  student  how  to  discriminate. 

(OVER) 


THE  USEFUL  VERB  "TO  GET." 

I  got  into  my  auto  the  other  morning  just  after  getting  your  telegram.  I  urged  the 
chauffeur  to  get  me  to  the  depot  in  the  quickest  time  possible.  When  I  got  to  the  station 
I  got  aboard  the  train.  The  train  had  gone  but  a  short  distance  when  we  got  news  from 
the  conductor  that  a  cow  had  got  on  the  track  and  was  killed.  When  the  roadmaster  got 
the  animal  off  the  track,  the  train  got  under  way  again.  When  I  got  to  Philadelphia  it 
was  raining  hard,  and  in  going  from  the  station  to  the  hotel  I  got  wet  through  and  now 
have  got  such  a  bad  cold  as  I  shall  not  be  able  to  get  rid  of  in  a  hurry.  After  changing 
my  clothes  I  went  out  and  got  to  the  bank  just  before  closing  time.  The  cashier  told  me 
that  I  must  get  some  one  to  identify  me  before  I  could  get  my  check  cashed.  After  getting 
the  money  I  came  out  of  the  bank  and  got  into  a  cab.  When  I  got  to  my  hotel  again  I 
was  tired  and  was  getting  hungry.  When  I  got  through  dining,  I  hailed  a  bootblack  and 
got  my  shoes  shined.  Later  in  the  evening,  having  nothing  to  do,  I  got  myself  into  bed 
and  got  a  good  night's  rest. 

Find  synonyms  for  the  various  forms  of  get  in  the  preceding,  rewriting  in  good  form. 


(Lesson  XXIII,  page  4) 


LESSON  XXIV.     Miscellaneous  Idioms. 

See  Grammar,  sections   105-120,  omitting  116. 

Give  sentences  in  which  "as"  is  a  conjunction,  a  relative  pronoun,  and  an  adverb. 

What  is  the  difference  if  any  between  "as  if"  and  "as  though"? 

Explain  the  construction  of  the   italicized  words  in  the  following  sentences :     It  lay  just 
below   the    surface;    He    arrived   too    late    to  sec  his   sister. 

What  does  "only"  modify  in  the  sentence  "Genius  can  breathe  only  in  the  atmosphere  of 
freedom"? 

What  are  "since  when"  in  the  sentence  "Since  when  have  you  learned  to  hate  money"? 
Give  a  sentence  in  which  "since"  is  a  conjunction  and  "when"  an  adverb  used  conjunctively. 

Give  an  example  of  "but"  used  as  a  preposition. 

Give  an  example  of  a  preposition  consisting  of  two  words. 

What  part  of  speech   is  "the"  in  "the  more  the  merrier"?     Is  this  the  same  word  as 
the  article? 

What  is  the  real  meaning  of  "It  is  not  ungrammatical",  and  is  the  sentence  correct? 
What  is  the  matter  with  "I  never  did  repent  of  doing  good,  nor  shall  not  now"? 
What  is  the  rule  for  two  negatives  in  an  English  sentence? 

What  is  objectionable  in  "more  perfect'"  "deader",  "more  circular",  "more  complete"? 
Are  these  forms  ever  justified? 

Write  the  following  with  the  correct  article : 
This  is  a  rare  kind  of  (an)  eagle. 

He  suffered  from  (the — a — omit)  thirst. 

He  failed  to  tell  me  what  kind  of  (a — the — omit)  pencil  he  wished. 

Nouns  have  two  numbers,   (a — the — omit)  singular  and  (?)  plural. 

Our  country  is  equally  honored  by  the  soldier,  (the)  statesman,  and  (the)  poet. 

This  is  a  cotton  and  (a)  silk  fabric. 

(The — an)    eagle  is    (the — a)    national  bird. 

You  will  find  it  in  the  first  and  (— )  second  section — the  first  and  ( — )  second  sections. 

The  team  consisted  of  a  black  and  ( — )   white  horse. 


Grammar,  Sects.  106-120,  pp.  87-91.  Lesson  XXIV. 

Other  Peculiarities. 

Our  definitions  do  not  tell  us  that  an  adverb  may  modify  a  preposition,  nor  that 
an  infinitive  may  modify  an  adverb,  but  we  can  find  apparent  instances  of  both  in  the  idioms 
of  the  language.  Examples:  "It  lay  just  below  the  surface."  Just  is  here  an  adverb 
modifying  the  preposition  below,  but  it  may  be  explained  on  the  ground  that  below  par- 
takes also  of  the  nature  of  an  adverb,  and  in  that  capacity  it  may  take  an  adverbial  modifier. 
"He  arrived  too  late  to  see  his  sister":  To  see  evidently  modifies  the  adverb  too — as  a 
little  reflection  will  show,  unless  we  look  on  the  infinitive  as  modifying  the  verb  as  it  in 
turn  is  modified  by  the  adverb  late  and  that  in  turn  by  too.  In  any  case,  the  construction 
is  idiomatic. 

A  word  may  modify  a  whole  phrase  as  if  it  were  a  single  word,  as  in  this  sentence: 
"Genius  can  breathe  only  in  the  atmosphere  of  freedom,"  in  which  only  modifies  the  entire 
phrase  in  atmosphere  as  if  it  were  a  simple  adverb. 

An  adverb  may  become  a  noun,  as  when  in  the  sentence  "Since  when  have  you 
learned  to  hate  money?"  Since  is  a  preposition  governing  when,  which  still  retains  its 
conjunctive  qualities,  and  even  something  of  its  adverbial  significance. 

A  conjunction  may  become  a  preposition,  as  but  does  in  the  sentence  "I  will  have 
nobody  but  him,"  and  there  are  cases  in  which  it  even  appears  to  be  a  relative  pronoun, 
as  in  "There  is  not  one  of  them  but  is  a  beauty." 

An  adverb  may  follow  a  preposition,  in  such  idiomatic  phrases  as  at  once,  before 
now,  etc.,  just  as  if  it  were  a  noun. 

Sometimes  an  adverb  like  off  becomes  an  adjective,  apparently,  as  in  the  idiomatic 
phrase  "He  is  well  off." 

We  seem  to  have  the  force  of  a  single  preposition  expressed  by  two  words,  as 
''Out  of  the  depths,"  "The  song  rose  up  to  heaven,"  "He  jumped  on  to  the  table."  The 
first  of  the  pair  in  each  case  may  be  parsed  as  an  adverb,  however. 

The  relative  adverb  where  may  be  used  for  in  which,  as  in  "This  is  a  case,  where  a 
doctor  should  be  called" ;  and  other  words  are  also  often  implied  in  its  use  in  addition  to 
in  which. 

In  such  cases  as  "the  more,  the  merrier,"  the  appears  to  be  an  adverb.  The  use  is 
purely  idiomatic.  In  Anglo-Saxon  it  was  a  different  word  from  the  article. 

In  some  languages  two  negatives  serve  to  intensify  the  negation,  but  the  English 
language  follows  strict  logical  principles  in  this  matter,  and  so  in  English  two  negatives 
destroy  each  other,  or  create  an  affirmative.  Examples :  "His  language,  though  inelegant, 
is  not  ungrammatical," — that  is,  it  is  "grammatical" ;  "I  never  did  repent  of  doing  good, 
nor  shall  not  now" — an  evident  absurdity;  "Tasso,  no  more  than  Raphael,  was  not  born  in  a 
republic" — another  absurdity. 

The  comparative  and  superlative  degrees  are  not  appropriate  to  such  adjectives  as 
perfect,  circular,  complete,  etc.,  since  they  express  an  absolute,  not  a  relative  quality.  What 
is  perfect  is  absolutely  perfect,  and  cannot  be  more  perfect.  Something  may  be  more  nearly 
perfect,  however,  more  nearly  complete,  more  nearly  circular.  By  a  sort  of  syncope,  the 
nearly  is  often  omitted,  and  while  more  circular  can  perhaps  never  be  found  in  good  writers. 
and  more  perfect  seldom,  more  complete  is  very  commonly  used.  The  general  principle 
applies  to  many  other  adjectives  and  some  adverbs. 

The  difference  in  meaning  that  may  result  from  the  use  or  omission  of  the  small 
word  a  is  illustrated  in  the  following:  "He  behaved  with  little  reverence,"  and  "He  be- 
haved with  a  little  reverence." 

And  has  a  peculiar  idiomatic  use  in  parenthetical  sentences  such  as  the  following: 
"The  sky  is  changed  {and  such  a  change!)'"' 


LESSON  XXIV  (Continued).    The  Right  Preposition. 

See  Dictionary  of  Errors,  page  87  et  seq.,  or  How  to  Do  Business  by  Letter,  page  153. 
The  correct  English  preposition  is  often  indicated  by  the  meaning  of  the  Latin  prepo- 
sition found  as  the  prefix  of  the  word  that  is  followed  by  the  preposition.     Find  out  the 
meaning  of  the  prefixes  in  the  following  words  and  write  after  each  the  preposition  by 
which  it  should  be  followed: 

abstract  concur  exhale 

adhere  connect  intervene 

compare  depart  inter 

correlate  extract 

In  other  cases  the  prepositional  prefix  is  not  repeated  in  the  form  of  an  English  prepo- 
sition, but  the  verb  takes  a  direct  object.     Write  sentences  showing  that  no  preposition  is 
required  after  each  of  the  following,  and  explain  the  meaning  of  the  prefix: 
antedate                                         bisect  observe 
circumnavigate                             perform                                         postpone 
extradite                                        permit                                            retrograde 
counteract                                      produce  supervene 

Still  others  require  different  prepositions  in  English.  Write  sentences  illustrating  the 
correct  preposition  to  use  after  the  following : 

translate  prepare  object 

subtract  conduct  recoil 

In  other  cases  the  meaning  is  different  according  to  the  preposition  that  is  used.    Write 

each  of  the  following  words  in  sentences  that  will  illustrate  the  difference  in  meaning  with 
•different  prepositions: 

wait  attend  tell 

ask  argue  transform 

angry  work  conform 

anxious  subscribe  fit 

call   (three)  indulgent 

In  the  list  of  prepositions  and  words  they  may  follow  on  pages  89,  90,  and  91  of  the 
Dictionary  of  Errors,  pick  out  such  words  as  do  not  seem  at  first  thought  to  require  after 
them  the  preposition  they  are  listed  under,  and  illustrate  in  what  special  connection  the 
preposition  would  be  correct. 

A  common  error  is  the  use  of  the  infinitive  after  a  word  that  more  properly  requires 
a  verbal  noun  after  "of"  or  the  like,  as  in  "It  was  an  example  of  his  love  to  form  com- 
parisons" (should  be  "of  forming" — Dictionary  of  Errors,  page  91).  Find  an  example  of 
this  error,  criticised  in  a  preceding  lesson. 

FRIENDSHIP. 

CHAPTER   I. 

Real  Friends. 

My  life  is  like  the  waves  on  a  stormy  sea !  I  will  for  the  first  say  something  about  real 
friendship.  What  is  real  friendship?  As  long  as  you  have  lots  of  money  and  everything 
goes  well  your  friends  seem  to  be  many.  Everybody  wants  to  be  your  friend.  But  are  they 
really  friends?  Can  a  real  friend  be  bought  for  money?  I  say  no. 

How  many  are  those  who  will  be  your  friend  as  long  as  luck  and  welfare  are  thy  lot? 
But  the  days  go  by.  You  are  some  way  or  another  crossed  in  Life.  You  have  no  money, 
no  home,  no  work,  no  clothes,  and,  perhaps,  little  to  eat. 

But  your  friends,  where  are  they? 

(OVER) 


Take,  for  an  example,  here  is  a  young  man.  He  goes  out  in  a  crowd  of  young  people. 
Here's  a  girl.  She  is  fond  of  friends.  She  is  just  the  one.  I  don't  love  her,  but  take  her 
company  just  to  show  off  that  you  have  the  chance  to  go  with  her  a  little  bit.  But  would 
you  for  once  say  I  don't  love  nor  I  don't  intend  to  marry  you? 

Sweetheart — honey — dear — dearest.  And  should  you  once  happen  to  talk  to  another 
boy  you'd  at  once  see  a  sober  look  on  their  faces.  And  after  a  little  while  they  are  gone 
off  with  another. 

Well,  I  never  was  rich,  but  still  I  can  tell  many  queer  stories  of  life  if  I  only  get  time. 

CHAPTER   IV. 

Human  Love  May  Be  Untrue. 

Well,  Mary,  how  did  you  like  your  trip  to  Grantsburg? 

O,  fine.    I  had  a  lovely  time  out  there.    I  wish  I  could  of  staid  longer. 

Indeed !  You  must  have  had  quite  a  good  time.  You  hardly  had  time  to  write  to  me 
while  you  was  there.  I  almost  thought  you  had  gotten  your  eyes  on  some  one  else  you 
like  better. 

O,  Willie,  how  you  talk! 

Well?     (A  pause.) 

He  pressed  her  close  and  kissed  her  firmly. 

I  notice  you  have  a  new  jacket,  Mary.     How  well  it  becomes  you. 

O,  it's  only  a  cheap  one,  but  it  will  have  to  do. 

That's  all  right,  Mary.    The  day  will  come  when  .,  :,-u  can  affoi  i  to  have  an  expensive  one. 

Is  that  so? 

Yes,  that's  so,  dear.    Mary,  how  would  you  like  to  go  with  me  to  Chicago? 

O,  I  should  like  to  offle  well.    Yes,  sir,  I  should  be  very  much  delighted  to  go. 

Wouldn't  it  be  lots  of  fun,  though?    What's  the  matter  with  going  next  fall? 

All  right,  I  guess. 

This  and  many  other  things  did  he  promise  her,  but  we  will  later  find  how  he  kept  his 
promises. 

Loving  hearts  on  eartb  are  fond. 

Purest  friend.1  hi)  here  abound. 
Heaven's  sweet  love  is  best  for  you. 
Human  love  may  be  untrue. 

CRITICISM  ON  THE  PRECEDING. 

You  have  no  doubt  read  the  preceding  with  interest  and  amusement.  Its  evident  sin- 
cerity and  naivete  make  it  interesting ;  but  its  trite  and  commonplace  statements,  its  lack 
of  connection  between  some  sentences  and  those  adjoining,  and  its  wonderful  mixture  of 
pronouns,  to  say  nothing  of  all  kinds  of  errors  of  grammar  and  misuse  of  words,  make  it 
highly  amusing. 

Trace  out  each  pronoun,  and  see  how  the  writer  changes  from  the  first  to  the  second 
person  and  then  to  the  third,  and  soon  to  the  plural.  Make  lists  in  three  columns  of  the 
pronouns  as  used,  the  antecedents  of  the  pronouns,  and  the  pronouns  that  ought  to  be  used. 

Make  a  list  of  the  words  that  are  entirely  incorrect,  and  give  opposite  each  the  word 
that  was  intended. 

Make  a  list  of  the  violations  of  rules  of  grammar  with  which  you  are  familiar. 

Write  a  short  criticism  on  the  paragraphing  and  general  coherence  of  the  composition 
from  sentence  to  sentence. 

(Lesson  XXIV,  page  4) 


LESSON  XXV.    Shall  and  Will. 

See  Grammar,  section  116,  page  89. 

In  what  cases  is  "will"  proper  after  "I"  or  "we"? 

In  what  cases  is  "shall"  proper  after  second  and  third  persons  in  indicative  sentences? 

When  is  "shall"  substituted  for  "will"  in  questions? 

When  is  it  proper  to  use  "should"  and  when  "would"? 

Give  a  sentence  in  which  "should"  has  the  meaning  of  "ought". 

Rewrite  the  following  sentences  correctly: 
I  (will— shall)  be  there,  I  think  at  twelve. 

I   (will — shall)  never  consent. 

We   (would — should)   be  very  glad  indeed  to  accept  the  invitation. 
(Shall — will)  you  be  able  to  join  us  later? 
(Shall — will)   you  give  me  a  dollar? 

(Shall — will)   he  be  allowed  to  play  all  day  on  the  street? 
(Should — would)   you  do  such  a  thing? 
(Should — would)  this  compensate  you? 

I    (will — shall)   be  drowned;  nobody   (will — shall)   help  me. 
I  (shall — will)  be  very  glad  to  give  what  you  ask. 
We  (shall — will)  be  very  much  pleased  to  grant  your  request 
I  (would — should)  not  do  it  if  I  were  in  your  place. 
If  he  comes,  he   (shall — will)  have  my  place. 

If  you  will  give  me  twenty  dollars,  I  (will — shall)  give  you  a  receipt  in  full. 
Henry  says  he  (will — shall)  be  quite  willing  to  go. 
He  thinks  he   (shall — will)   leave  town  next  week. 
I  tell  you,  you   (shall — will)  not  see  me. 
(Will — shall)   the  amount  be  fixed  in  advance? 
If  he  does  that  he  (should — would)  be  punished. 
He  has  made  up  his  mind  that  he  (shall— will)  not  reply. 
I  asked  John  whether  he   (should — would)   come  with  us. 
Note.     In  case  both  forms  are  correct  with  different  meanings,  say  so  in  your  answer. 


Grammar,  Sect.  116,  p.  89.  Lesson  XXV. 

As  has  already  been  said,  simple  prediction  of  the  future  is  indicated  by  the  use  of 
shall  with  the  first  person,  and  will  with  the  second  and  third  persons.  If  we  wish  to 
express  willingness  in  any  degree  whatever,  we  may  use  will  with  the  first  person,  as, 
"If  you  wish,  I  will  go  to  town  to-morrow" ;  of  in  any  sentence  in  which  the  words  "am 
willing  to"  could  be  substituted  with  any  propriety. 

Shall  is  used  with  the  second  and  third  persons  to,  indicate  compulsion,  as  "You 
shall  do  it,  whether  you  wish  to  or  not."  Any  case  which  assumes  that  the  person  speaking 
will  use  his  will  power  to  induce  or  compel  calls  for  shall  in  place  of  will. 

Shall  may  also  be  used  (and  indeed  is  almost  required)  in  asking  a  question  for 
which  the  anticipated  answer  is  I  shall  or  shall  not,  or  we  shall.  Thus  we  say,  "Shall  you 
go  to  the  opera  to-night?"  Answer,  "I  shall."  The  same  principle  applies  to  indirect  dis- 
course, as  "He  says  he  shall  go." 

Shall  is  seldom,  if  ever,  wrongly  used,  but  many  good  writers  and  most  conversa- 
tionalists use  will  more  or  less  with  the  first  person  for  mere  prediction  when  there  is  no 
emphasis  on  the  word  and  especially  when  the  use  of  shall  might  seem  to  imply  emphasis 
of  some  kind.  Purists  condemn  this  usage.  The  fact  is,  instinct  does  not  warn  us  of  any 
special  difference  between  those  cases'  in  which  willingness  may  be  appropriately  ex- 
pressed, and  those  in  which  the  nature  of  the  ideas  seems  to  exclude  willingness.  Nearly 
all  critics  condemn  the  practice,  and  nearly  all  English  speaking  people  (except,  perhaps, 
those  of  England,  not  including  Scotland  and  Ireland)  are  addicted  to  it.  See  the  dic- 
tionary. 

All  that  has  been  said  of  the  use  of  'shall  and  will  applies  with  equal  force  to  the 
past  tenses,  should  and  would.  We  may  add  that  "should"  frequently  signifies  "ought," 
as  in  "You  should  say  'It  is  I.' "  To  avoid  giving  this  significance  we  often  use  would 
after  a  first  personal  pronoun  for  mere  prediction,  as  in  "We  would  (naturally)  say 
'It  is  I.'" 


LESSON   XXV    (Continued).     Amusing  Examples   of  Illogical   Sentences. 

If  we  would  think  clearly  and  express  our  meaning  with  logical  accuracy  we  should 
obey  most  of  the  rules  of  grammar  without  knowing  it.  But  our  minds  are  always  getting 
confused  and  putting  the  cart  before  the  horse.  That  is  why  we  need  continually  to  study 
our  sentences  to  see  if  the  logical  chain  is  complete.  Other  languages  have  inflections  to 
show  which  words  go  with  which  others,  but  in  English  the  position  of  the  word  in  the 
sentence  is  everything.  We  must  train  our  minds  continually  to  follow  out  the  gram- 
matical (logical)  relationships  of  words  in  our  sentences  to  be  sure  there  is  no  break  in 
the  chain.  In  the  following  there  are  examples  of  one  word  including  the  other,  as  "vege- 
tables and  potatoes"  (of  course  "potatoes"  are  vegetables,  but  perhaps  "green  vegetables 
and  potatoes"  was  the  meaning,  and  this  would  be  correct,  for  though  potatoes  are  vegetables, 
they  are  not  "green  vegetables").  In  other  cases  there  is  a  ridiculous  implied  meaning  of 
which  the  writer  had  no  thought.  If  we  form  the  habit  of  taking  a  quick  glance  around 
each  word  we  shall  not  fall  into  such  errors.  Rewrite  the  following  in  correct  form : 

IT  MUST  BE  A  PRETTY  LARGE  SUIT. 

"I  am  trying  to  get  one  of  my  suits  on  5,000  men's  backs,"  announces  a  former  candidate 
for  the  mayoralty. 

SPEAKING  OF  EDUCATED  PIGS- 

Harry  Brown,  the  well  known  hog  breeder,  shipped  one  of  his  choice  male  Chester 
hogs  to  James  Frances  of  Chamberino,  New  Mexico.  He  was  educated  at  the  Union 
Christian  college  at  Merom. 

ARE  ART  AND  LITERATURE  DEAD  TOPICS? 

Delightfully  frank  is  the  announcement  of  the  program  of  the  woman's  club  of 
Canon  City,  Colo. :  "The  course  of  study  is  unusually  attractive  this  year,  embracing  art, 
literature,  and  a  few  live  topics." 

"FRESHMEN"  AND  "CO-EDS"  ARE  NOT  "STUDENTS." 

This  is  the  way  the  Wisconsin  State  Journal  classifies  them :  "Professors,  freshmen, 
co-eds,  and  students  are  once  more  back  on  the  campus." 

Speaking  of  "musical  and  singing,"  park  signs  in  Cedar  Rapids  read:  "Removal  of 
ferns  and  plants  strictly  forbidden."  While  the  Bloomington  Telephone  relates  that  "she 
left  several  children  and  one  son."  And  the  St.  Joseph  News-Press  mentions  "portraits 
and  illustrations." 

SURE-DEATH  BRISLEY. 
Say,  friend,  send  your  drug  order  to  Brisley's.     No  one  ever  lived  to  regret  it. 

SPEAKING  OF  POTATOES  AND  VEGETABLES— 
Wanted — Lady  or  young  widow  as  cashier  and  manager  in  a  department  store. 

PROMINENT   COLORED   CITIZEN. 
Lost — A  light  green  man's  beaver  hat.     Return  to  office  and  receive  reward. 

(OVER) 


THEY  MUST  HAVE  BEEN  UNCOMMONLY  ELASTIC. 

(From  the   Evening  Wisconsin.) 
Mayor  Seidel  sat  around  a  table  gloomily. 

(From  the  St.  Paul  Dispatch.) 

Senator  William  Field  of  Catskill  was  seated  about  the  enormous  fireplace  in  Keeler's 
hotel  the  other  night. 

WHAT  AN  EXTRAORDINARY  GENTLEMAN! 

Sign  on  Wentworth  avenue :  "To  be  disposed  of,  a  mail  wagon,  the  property  of  a 
gentleman  with  removable  headpiece  as  good  as  new." 

WAS  HE  AN  ARTIST  IN  SWEARING? 

(From  the  Logan  Square  Herald.) 

If  you  have  a  stove  to  put  up  or  a  glass  to  put  in  and  don't  want  to  swear,  let  J.  H. 
Fuog  of  the  Fair  do  it.  He  is  an  artist. 

WHAT  IS  THE  MATTER  WITH  THIS? 

According  to  the  management  of  the  Columbia  theater,  "50,000  square  feet  of  fresh  air 
are  blown  into  this  auditorium  every  minute." 

AN  ALL-AROUND  GOLF  COURSE. 

(From  an  advertisement  of  Biloxi,  Miss.) 

You  can  sail,  bathe,  motor,  play  tennis,  or  play  golf  on  the  finest  nine-hole  golf  course 
in  the  South. 

WHAT   SORT   OF   COSTUME   IS    "HALF-IMPATIENT   ANTICIPATION"? 

(From  a  lodge  paper.) 

Merry  groups  of  gentlemen  and  ladies  suitably  attired  for  the  evening,  the  ladies 
beautiful  in  their  half-impatient  anticipation,  crowded  the  foyers. 

IT  DOESN'T  PARSE. 

Many  moons  ago,  down  in  Pumpkin  Center,  where  I  spent  my  childhood  days,  is  where 
I  want  to  spend  the  remainder. 

WHAT'S  THE  GAME? 

Hugh  Metcalf  had  a  horse  which  got  so  disgusted  over  the  storm  that  we  had  on  the 
night  of  the  third  that  she  committed  suicide  by  playing  with  its  mate  and  lost  her  balance 
and  fell  over  the  partition  and  hung  herself. — Cando  Herald. 

WHAT  ARE  THE  SEVEN  SENSES? 

Mrs.  Will  Marion  (nee  Rose  Greeley)  accidently  fell  last  week  while  at  her  home 
in  Aurora  and  struck  her  nose  against  a  marble  washstand,  nearly  fracturing  this  useful 
member  of  the  seven  senses. — Shabbona  Express. 

(Lesson  XXV,  page  4) 


LESSON  XXVI.     Review. 

Key  to  the  review  questions  in  this  and  following  lessons  may  be  found  in  the  Dictionary 
of  Errors,  beginning  on  page  n,  and  "How  to  Do  Business  by  Letter,"  page  157. 

Diagram  each  of  the  correct  sentences  in  Lessons  XXVI-XXIX,  using  the  back  of  the 
page  or  a  separate  sheet  of  paper. 

Rewrite  the  following  sentences  correctly,  at  the  same  time  stating  the  principle  which 
governs  the  choice  of  form : 

It  is  (I— me)  ;  It  is  (they— them)  ;  It  is  (he— him). 

Between  you  and   (me — I)  ;    (Whom — who)   will  the  paper  be  read  by? 
(Let  you  and  me — Let's  you  and  I)  go  to  the  postoffice. 

There  is  no  one  who  can  run  so  fast  as  (him — he)  ;  She  liked  no  one  better  than  (he — 
him). 

They  believed  it  to  be   (him — he). 

Each  of  them  (has  his  own  way  of  doing  it — have  their  own  way  of  doing  it)  ;  The 
company  ordered  (its — their)  men  to  leave. 

I,  who  (am — are)  above  you,  sacrifice  myself  for  you. 

Is  it  John  or  Mary  who   (stand — stands)   at  the  head  of   (his — her — their)  class? 

A  day  lost  (?)  Five  days  to  be  made  up  on  our  journey  (?)  I  knew  it  could  n't  be 
done. 

Every  one  of  those  men  (have — has)  a  pickax;  Each  of  the  thousand  tiny  points  of  life 
(is — are)  as  clear  as  a  star;  The  woman  or  the  tiger  (comes — come)  out. 

The  company  (is — are)  going  to  raise  our  pay;  The  factory  (says  it  has  n't — say  they 
have  n't)  found  it. 

A  number  of  men  (are — is)  running  across  the  campus;  A  certain  number  of  men  (is — 
are)  selected  each  year. 

None  of  these  women  (is — are)  dressed  for  a  shower;  None  of  the  critics  of  our  day 
(are — is)  equal  to  Sainte  Beuve. 

Montgomery  Ward  &  Co.  (have— has)  settled  the  strike;  The  Montgomery  Ward  Com- 
pany (has — have)  settled  the  strike. 

Love  and  beauty  (is — are)  his  theme  through  the  book. 

•He  (don't— does  n't)  like  my  style;  It  (don't— does  n't)  do  to  speak  too  freely. 
I  am  going  to  be  invited  to  the  country  next  week,  (ain't — are  n't)  I? 
He  (began — begun)  to  do  it;  He  (did — done)  the  job. 
He  (sunk— sank)  ;  He  (swam— swum)  ;  He  (sprang— sprung). 


LESSON  XXVI  (Continued).    Good  Advice  Tersely  Written. 

You  may  learn  to  avoid  all  the  errors  that  man  ever  made  yet  you  would  not  be  a  good 
writer,  since  good  writing  means  positive  qualities.  You  get  these  positive  qualities  from 
studying  writings  that  are  so  filled  with  them  that  unconsciously  you  imbibe  them.  It 
is  dangerous  to  spend  too  much  time  analysing  bad  writing,  though  only  by  weeding  out 
the  faults  of  others  will  you  learn  to  weed  out  your  own. 

Mr.  Edwin  H.  Lewis  has  written  a  book  on  "Business  English"  that  is  such  a  fine 
example  of  good  English  in  itself  that  those  who  read  it  cannot  help  unconsciously  absorb- 
ing its  energetic  effectiveness.  As  a  contrast  to  the  examples  of  ridiculously  weak  English 
in  other  lessons,  I  wish  to  give  in  this  lesson  some  quotations  from  Mr.  Lewis's  book  in 
exactly  the  English  he  recommends. 

"There  is  an  old  adage,"  writes  Mr.  Lewis,  "that  clear  thinking  makes  clear  writing. 
And  it  is  perfectly  true.  And  perhaps  you  feel  that  it  is  perfectly  useless.  What  use  is 
there  in  telling  a  man  to  run  along  and  think  clearly?  Thinkers,  you  say,  are  born,  not 
produced  by  command.  Young  men  in  business  get  tired  of  the  sage  advice  that  is  pre- 
sented to  them  weekly  in  the  Sunday  papers  and  monthly  in  the  commercial  magazines. 
They  are  perfectly  familiar  with  it.  Be  judicious,  be  tactful,  be  industrious,  be  clever,  be 
persevering,  be  intellectual:  in  short,  go  and  get  yourself  born  again. 

"I  sympathize  with  the  advice-bespattered  youth.  But  these  old  saws  have  their  uses — 
after  one  has  taken  a  rest  from  them.  'Stop !  Look !  Listen !' — that  railway  crossing  sign 
has  saved  a  good  many  lives.  And  maybe  the  advice  to  think  clearly  has  done  the  same. 
It  is  certain  that  we  think  more  clearly  when  we  are  determined,  no  matter  how  much 
pain  it  costs,  to  do  so." 

In  another  chapter  he  goes  on,  "  'Connection,'  said  Jowett  of  Oxford,  'is  the  soul  of 
good  writing.'  If  so,  a  good  many  pieces  of  English  are  lacking  in  point  of  soul.  This 
is  true  even  in  the  case  of  certain  famous  and  valuable  authors. 

"When  you  read  an  advertisement  you  are  irritated  if  the  text  is  divided  by  pictures, 
or  written  in  two  columns,  between  each  two  opposite  lines  of  which  you  have  to  make  a 
jump. 

"We  like  to  get  on.  We  like  to  move  easily  from  sentence  to  sentence,  from  paragraph 
to  paragraph,  and  come  to  a  logical  and  satisfying  close.  If  we  like  to  do  this,  how  shall 
we  help  others  to  find  the  same  smooth  effect  in  our  own  writing? 

"These  shoes  ought  to  have  style.  But  these  shoes  have  no  style.  They  have  good 
material  in  them,  but  the  workmanship  and  the  form  are  clumsy.' 

"That  is  not  an  incoherent  paragraph.  It  is  short,  and  the  sentences  are  short,  and  the 
meaning  is  clear  enough.  But  the  coherence  could  be  improved,  thus: 

"  These  shoes  ought  to  have  style.  But  style  is  exactly  what  they  haven't.  They  have 
good  material,  but  the  form  and  the  workmanship  are  clumsy.' 

"You  see  what  has  been  done.  The  last  words  of  each  sentence  are  echoed  in  the 
first  words  of  the  following.  The  gain  in  connection  is  not  great  between  sentences  so 
short  and  simple.  But  you  can  see  that  in  longer  sentences  it  might  be  very  valuable  to 
weld  ends  and  beginnings  in  that  fashion. 

"Notice  that  the  sentence  'But  style  is  exactly  what  they  have  n't'  throws  style  and 
have  n't  into  strong  relief.  The  beginning  and  the  end  of  a  sentence  are  the  most  emphatic 
places.  Mr.  Wendell,  of  Harvard,  has  formulated  this  rule:  'Begin  and  end  with  words 
that  deserve  distinction.' " 

(OVER) 


"In  Dean  van  Benthuysen's  excellent  brochure  on  English  in  Commercial  Correspond- 
ence the  following  is  quoted: 

"  'I  am  in  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  9th  instant,  relating  in  part  to  the  stenographer 
and  typewriter  examinations  next  spring  and  also  the  question  of  local  examinations  in 
connection  with  the  conducting  of  Civil  Service  examinations,  concerning  the  latter  of 
which  I  would  say  that  with  the  exception  of  the  route  examinations  which  are  conducted 
by  the  various  district  secretaries,  the  examinations  are  held  by  the  employees  of  the  post 
office  at  the  different  places  of  examination,  who  have  been  specially  designated  for  such 
purpose  under  a  provision  of  the  Civil  Service  rules/ 

"The  youth  who  got  that  must  have  felt  as  if  he  were  perusing  a  railroad  time-table. 
Good  mental  exercise?  Never,  never  use  that  argument.  To  cause  your  reader  or  corre- 
spondent unnecessary  mental  labor  is  the  greatest  of  all  blunders  in  business  English. 
The  more  patience  he  spends  in  getting  at  your  thought,  the  less  he  will  have  for  your 
proposition.  Let  us  turn  that  alleged  sentence  into  a  paragraph.  There  are  several  versions 
that  might  be  made." 

"The  paragraph  gives  the  writer  room.  It  allows  him  to  take  breath.  He  can  proceed 
in  a  leisurely  manner  to  make  one  point  and  then  another.  And  precisely  as  these  are 
advantages  to  the  writer,  they  are  advantages  to  the  reader. 

"Another  thing.  This  great  modern  invention,  the  paragraph,  permits  the  writer  to 
emphasize  the  important  thought.  Suppose  that  the  paragraph  is  to  deal  with  a  group  of 
details  which  are  all  of  the  same  sort,  but  one  of  which  is  the  most  important.  He  can 
run  a  group  of  details  together  in  one  sentence,  using  semicolons  if  necessary,  and  save 
a  short,  strong  sentence  for  the  one  detail  that  deserves  it. 

"Note  how  the  emphasis  is  distributed  in  the  following  excellent  paragraph : 

"  There  is  always  one  by  which  the  rest  are  measured.  In  the  magazine  world,  that  one 
has  always  been  and  is  today  the  Century.  Ask  writers  where  their  best  productions  are 
first  offered;  ask  editors  which  magazine  they  would  rather  conduct;  ask  public  men  where 
articles  carry  most  influence;  ask  artists  where  they  would  prefer  to  be  lepresented;  ask  the 
public  what  magazine  is  the  first  choice  of  real  influence,  and  the  answer  to  each  question 
is  the  same  :  THE  CENTURY.'  " 

To  the  student:  Find  in  some  book  or  newspaper  a  paragraph  as  good  as  the  last 
one.  Then  write  over  in  good  form  the  long  sentence  about  examinations. 

Show  by  reading  aloud  how  Mr.  Lewis  attains  force  by  varying  the  length  of  his 
sentences — that  is,  read  aloud  examples  of  short  sentences  with  longer  sentences  to  show 
how  effective  they  are  on  the  ear. 

Point  out  ten  figures  of  speech — that  is,  comparisons  and  illustrations,  or  implied  com- 
parisons and  illustrations,  used  to  make  his  meaning  clear. 

What  single  idea  is  set  forth  in  several  paragraphs,  each  time  in  a  different  style? 
How  does  this  repetition  avoid  monotony?  Why  is  this  fresh  and  interesting  repetition 
needed  to  get  the  idea  fully  into  the  mind  of  the  reader? 


(Lesson  XXVI,  page  4) 


LESSON  XXVII.     Review. 

Rewrite  the  following  sentences  correctly,  at  the  same  time  stating  the  principle  which 
governs  the  choice  of  form: 

He  had  (awaked— awoke)  ;  He  has  (bore— borne)  up  well;  The  cart  has  (broke- 
broken)  down. 

He  has  (drunk — drank)  all  the  water;  The  bird  has  (flown — fled)  away. 

She  has   (sung — sang)  the  old  song;  The  ship  has  (sunk — sank). 

He  has  (swore — sworn)  an  oath;  The  man  has  (swum — swam)  over  the  river. 

He  has   (got — gotten)  home;  She  has   (ridden — rode)  ten  miles. 

He  has   (forgot — forgotten)   his  lesson. 

He   (wrote — has  written)   to  me  yesterday;  I   (saw — have  seen)  him  in  1901. 

I  (saw — have  seen)  him  before  I  saw  you ;  I   (was — have  been)  told  after  I  left  you. 

I  (haven't  heard — didn't  hear)  from  you  yet;  He  (has  done — did)  it  already. 

He   (has  not  spoken — did  n't  speak)  to  me  so  far. 

It  had  happened  before  I  (saw — had  seen)  him;  I  (should  like  to  have  done  it — should 
have  liked  to  do — to  have  done  it). 

From  the  little  conversation  I  had  with  him  he  appeared  (to  be — to  have  been)  a  man  of 
letters. 

It  required  so  much  care  that  I  thought  I  should  have  lost  it  before  I  (had  reached— 
reached)  home. 

The  doctor  in  his  lecture  said  fever  always  (produced — produces)  thirst. 
Would  I    (were — was)   an  angel !  I  wish  I    (was — were)   at  home. 
If  he  (were — was)  here  I  should  be  happy;  If  he  (is — be)  here,  I  am  happy. 
Reprove  not  a  scorner  lest  he   (hate — hates)   thee. 

If  Anna  (was— were)  on  the  train,  he  must  have  seen  her;  Unless  he  (have— has)  done 
it,  there  will  be  no  punishment. 

Having  done  all  he  could,  he  ordered  the  freight  agent  to  send  the  box  ahead  -Having 
done  all  he  could  the  box  was  ordered  sent  ahead. 


LESSON  XXVII  (Continued).     The  Paragraph. 

One  of  the  most  important  things  to  learn  in  writing  is  how  to  take  up  one  thought 
at  a  time  and  elaborate  it  fully  in  a  paragraph,  then  passing  on  to  the  next.  Paragraphs 
should  be  kept  just  as  distinct  as  sentences. 

The  following  little  series  of  paragraphs  describes  a  poor  but  pretty  French  woman, 
alternating  between  the  two  general  subjects  of  her  low  position  in  the  world  and  her 
dreams.  The  sentences  are  also  peculiar  in  that  many  of  them  contain  a  number  of  phrases 
all  just  alike  in  form.  Observe  the  effect  of  these  balanced  phrases. 

THE  NECKLACE.  BY  GUY  DE  MAUPASSANT. 

She  was  one  of  those  pretty  and  charming  girls  who,  as  if  by  a  mistake  of  destiny,  are 
born  in  a  family  of  clerks.  She  had  no  dowry,  no  expectations,  no  means  of  becoming 
known,  understood,  loved,  wedded  by  any  rich  and  distinguished  man;  and  so  she  let 
herself  be  married  to  a  petty  clerk  in  the  Bureau  of  Public  Instruction. 

She  was  simple  in  her  dress  because  she  could  not  be  elaborate,  but  she  was  as 
unhappy  as  if  she  had  fallen  from  a  higher  rank,  for  with  women  there  is  no  distinction 
of  higher  and  lower:  their  beauty,  their  grace,  and  their  natural  charm  fill  the  place  of 
birth  and  family.  Natural  delicacy,  instinctive  elegance,  a  lively  wit,  are  the  ruling  forces 
in  the  social  realm,  and  make  daughters  of  the  common  people  the  equals  of  the  finest  ladies. 

She  suffered  ceaselessly,  feeling  herself  born  for  all  the  refinements  and  luxuries  of 
life.  She  suffered  from  the  poverty  of  her  home  as  she  looked  at  the  dirty  walls,  the  worn- 
out  chairs,  the  ugly  curtains.  All  those  things  of  which  another  woman  of  her  station 
would  be  quite  unconscious  tortured  her  and  made  her  indignant.  The  sight  of  the  country 
girl  who  was  maid-of-all-work  in  her  humble  household  filled  her  almost  with  desperation. 

She  dreamed  of  echoing  halls  hung  with  Oriental  draperies  and  lighted  by  tall  can- 
delabra, while  two  tall  footmen  in  knee-breeches  drowsed  in  great  armchairs  by  reason  of 
the  heating  stove's  oppressive  warmth.  She  dreamed  of  splendid  parlors  furnished  in  rare 
old  silks,  of  carved  cabinets  loaded  with  priceless  curiosities,  and  of  entrancing  little 
boudoirs  just  right  for  afternoon  chats  with  bosom  friends — men  famous  and  sought  after, 
the  envy  and  the  desire  of  all  the  other  women. 

When  she  sat  down  to  dinner  at  a  little  table  covered  with  a  cloth  three  days  old,  and 
looked  across  at  her  husband  as  he  uncovered  the  soup  and  exclaimed  with  an  air  of 
rapture,  "Oh,  the  delicious  stew !  I  know  nothing  better  than  that,"  she  dreamed  of  dainty 
dinners,  of  shining  silverware,  of  tapestries  which  peopled  the  walls  with  antique  figures 
and  strange  birds  in  fairy  forests;  she  dreamed  of  delicious  viands  served  in  wonderful 
dishes,  of  whispered  gallantries  heard  with  a  sphinx-like  smile  as  you  eat  the  pink  flesh  of 
a  trout  or  the  wing  of  a  bird. 

She  had  no  dresses,  no  jewels,  nothing;  and  she  loved  only  that,  she  felt  made  for  that. 
She  was  filled  with  a  desire  to  please,  to  be  envied,  to  be  bewitching  and  sought  after.  She 
had  a  rich  friend,  a  former  schoolmate  at  her  convent,  whom  she  no  longer  wished  to  visit 
because  she  suffered  so  much  when  she  came  home.  For  whole  days  at  a  time  she  wept 
without  ceasing  in  bitterness  and  hopeless  misery. 

Make  a  summary  of  the  preceding,  paragraph  by  paragraph. 

Show  how  the  general  subject  is  set  forth  in  the  first  sentence,  and  the  whole  sum- 
marized in  the  last  paragraph. 

Study  the  transitions  from  one  paragraph  to  the  next,  and  indicate  just  how  much  of 
a  change  there  is. 

(OVER) 


HOW  TO  ATTAIN  FORCE  IN  WRITING. 

Let  me  quote  from  "Literary  Composition"  the  following  summary  of  how  to  attain 
force : 

1.  By  using  words  which  are  in  themselves  expressive; 

2.  By  placing  those  words  in  emphatic  positions  in  the  sentence ; 

3.  By  varying  the  length   and   form   of   successive   sentences   so   that   the   reader   or 
hearer  shall  never  be  wearied  by  monotony; 

4.  By  figures  of  speech,  or  constant  comparison  and  illustration,   and  making  words 

suggest  ten  times  as  much  as  they  say; 

• 

5.  By  keeping  persistently  at  one  idea,  though  from  every  possible  point  of  view  and 
without  offensive  repetition,  till  that  idea  has  sunk  into  the  mind  of  the  hearer  and  has 
been  fully  comprehended. 

In  the  preceding  lesson  I  have  referred  to  some  paragraphs  quoted  from  Edwin  H. 
Lewis  as  particularly  well  written — that  is,  particularly  forceful.  Let  us  see  how  Mr. 
Lewis  illustrates  the  rules  given  above. 

First  of  all,  we  notice  that  his  sentences  are  very  short  on  the  whole,  yet  varied  in 
length  (point  3).  Several  of  them  begin  with  and.  On  this  point  he  says  himself,  "And 
is  rarely  used  at  the  beginning  of  a  sentence.  There  is  no  fixed  rule  against  doing  so ;  this 
is  a  free  country,  and  occasionally  an  initial  And  is  worth  using.  Being  the  simplest  and 
most  childlike  of  connectives,  it  gives  a  somewhat  naive  effect,  but  sometimes  an  innocent 
And  sentence  is  just  what  you  want.  Do  not  worry  on  this  point.  Worry  as  to  whether 
you  have  said  And  when  you  meant  But,  or  But  when  you  meant  And.  Connectives  are 
worse  than  useless  unless  they  are  correctly  used." 

Why  did  Mr.  Lewis  begin  so  many  sentences  with  and? 

Point  out  ten  particularly  expressive  words  which  he  has  used. 

Point  out  ten  examples  of  words  placed  in  emphatic  positions. 


(Lesson  XXVII,  page  4) 


LESSON   XXVIII.    Review. 

Rewrite  the  following  sentences  correctly,  at  the  same  time  stating  the  principle  which 
governs  the  choice  of  form : 

While  sitting  on  my  doorstep,  I  caught  sight  of  a  beautiful  butterfly — While  sitting  on 
my  doorstep,  a  beautiful  butterfly  caught  my  eye. 

By  doing  so  you  will  clear  the  matter  up — By  doing  so  the  matter  will  be  cleared  up. 

On  weighing  the  sugar  he  found  a  shortage — On  weighing  the  sugar  a  shortage  was 
found. 

I  hardly  knew  what  to  make  of  that  (man's — man)  jumping  over  the  fence. 

I  saw  (him — his)  doing  it;  I  approve  (him — his)  doing  it. 

What  do  you  think  of   (me — my)  going  to  town? 

I  heartily  approve  the    (church's — church)   acting  now. 

Congress  received  a  report  on  whether  Washington  Monument  should  be  placed  south 
of  the  White  House — on  Washington  Monument  being  placed  south  of  the  White  House. 

(John  and  Mary's — John's  and  Mary's)  house  now  came  in  sight;  I  picked  up  some- 
body's hat,  either  Fanny's  or  Jenny's. 

His  grandfather  cleaned  the  Duke's  of  Wellington  boots — Duke  of  Wellington's  boots. 

I  was  frightened  at  the  length  of  that  lesson — at  that  lesson's  length. 

Chicago's  drainage  system — the  drainage  system  of  Chicago. 

He  spoke  of  the  land's  fertility — the  fertility  of  the  land. 

For  (goodness'— goodness's — goodness)   sake;  Art  for  art's  sake — for  the  sake  of  Art. 

The  building  of  the  ship — the  building  the  ship;  It  is  the  using  of  it  before  "most" — 
the  using  it  before  "most". 

We  took  our  (part — parts)   in  the  proceeding,  each  according  to  his  own  ability. 

I  never  saw  a  (sweeter — more  sweet)  child. 

It  was  the  (most  complete — most  nearly  complete)  collection  of  butterflies  in  the  country. 

Your  drawing  is  (more  circular — more  nearly  circular)  than  mine. 


LESSON  XXVIII  (Continued).    Tone  in  Writing. 

The  question  whether  it  is  allowable  to  use  colloquialisms  or  even  slang  in  business- 
letter  writing  easily  resolves  itself  if  we  study  a  little  the  tone  in  which  we  should  'write-- 
to different  persons. 

If  you  were  making  an  address  before  an  audience  of  professors  you  would  not  dream 
of  introducing  slang  words,  or  even  colloquial  expressions.  Your  auditors  have  been 
educated  on  book  English,  and  are  accomplished  critics  on  the  fine  distinctions  of  words. 
If  you  wish  to  make  an  impression  on  such  an  audience  you  will  speak  to  it  or  write  to  it 
with  the  utmost  care  in  the  choice  of  words  and  methods  of  expression. 

If  you  were  addressing  the  President  of  the  United  States  in  his  official  capacity,  you 
would  do  the  same. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  you  were  a  boy  playing  with  boys  in  a  football  game,  you  would 
use  the  football  language  and  boys'  college  slang;  otherwise  you  would  be  kicked  off  the 
field  as  an  affected  nincompoop.  You  would  not  need  to  use  any  foolish  slang  expressions; 
but  you  would  have  to  speak  the  language  the  boys  would  best  understand. 

If  you  were  writing  a  letter  to  a  strange  lady  you  would  be  much  more  careful  in  your 
choice  of  words  than  if  you  were  writing  to  your  mother  or  sister.  Yet  you  would  be  more 
careful  in  writing  to  your  mother  or  sister  than  in  writing  to  your  brother  or  a  school 
chum. 

Likewise  when  you  write  to  a  business  man,  it  is  your  duty  to  use  the  language  that 
the  business  man  will  best  understand.  If  you  talk  to  him  about  letters  that  will  "get  in" 
business  you  seem  to  him  very  weak  because  you  do  not  seem  familiar  with  his  technical 
word  "letters  that  pull."  If  you  speak  to  him  about  "getting  down  to  brass  tacks"  he 
knows  what  you  mean,  and  that  you  are  going  to  do  just  what  he  wants  you  to  do,  namely 
get  to  the  point  in  a  hurry. 

The  present  writer  has  had  much  to  say  of  the  necessity  of  using  colloquial  English  in 
business,  and  is  glad  of  an  opportunity  to  quote  the  opinion  of  some  one  else, — Professor 
Lewis  in  his  "Business  English,"  Chapter  XII : 

"Business  English  must  admit  colloquialisms.  It  may  even  admit  fresh  slang  now 
and  then.  But  nobody  likes  stale  slang,  and  few  buyers  care  for  even  fresh  slang  all  the 
time.  Mr.  Walter  D.  Moody  in  his  'Men  Who  Sell  Things'  remarks,  The  purest  of 
king's  English  will  secure  an  audience  and  hold  attention  for  the  salesman  anywhere,  while 
slang  and  short  cuts  of  speech  often  excite  distrust  and  offend  the  ear  of  the  truly  refined.' 
As  a  general  proposition  this  is  sound  and  unassailable. 

"But  just  what  is  here  meant  by  'the  purest  of  king's  English'  is  not  so  clear.  As  one 
turns  the  leaves  of  Mr.  Moody's  vigorous  and  optimistic  book,  one  sees  that  he  is  writing 
to  commercial  travelers,  and  has  been  taught  expressions  that  a  college  man  has  been',  told 
to  reject.  Mr.  Moody  never  uses  the  word  drummer;  he  evidently  considers  that  below 
tone.  On  the  contrary  he  dignifies  the  word  'salesman'  all  he  can,  even  calling  him  an 
'ambassador  plenipotentiary.'  That  is  high-toned  language,  surely;  perhaps  a  trifle  too 
high-toned.  But  some  words  which  Mr.  Moody  uses  might  fairly  be  called  drummer's 
English  rather  than  the  English  of  ambassadors.  Take  the  phrase  'persevering  hustle' 
(page  25).  It  is  rather  good,  is  it  not?  'Hustle'  is  slang,  but  'perservering'  is  literary, : and 
the  combination  is  clear  and  fresh.  Chapter  III  is  headed,  'The  Knocker.'  That  is  slang 
for  the  Disgruntled  Man,  or  The  Critic,  or  The  Complainer.  Mr.  Moody  uses  it  because 
he  knows  it  means  a  great  variety  of  unpleasant  qualities  to  the  traveling  man.  It  fits  the 
tone  of  the  road.  He  would  not  seriously  maintain  that  it  would  be  the  best  word  to 
employ  in  every  business  situation.  He  would  not  advise  a  correspondent  to  begin  a  letter 
thus :  'My  dear  Madam :  Your  knock  received  and  contents  noted.' " 

(OVER) 


Under  the  head  of  "The  Business  Correspondent"  Mr.  Lewis  has  a  conversation  with 
an  old  pupil  of  his  who  has  since  become  a  successful  business  man.  Here  is  an  abstract 
from  it: 

"In  college  I  went  in  for  purity  of  diction  and  all  that.  I  was  always  trying  to  be 
correct,"  said  Frank. 

"And  you  "Ve  had  to  unlearn  it"  ? 

"Some  of  it.  You  can't  always  be  thinking  about  paragraphs  and  sentences  and  pure 
diction.  If  you  do,  your  letter  will  sound  cold  and  dead.  Dead !  that  is  the  word.  Half 
the  letters  written  by  college  graduates  are  dead  ones.  You  've  got  to  make  your  letters 
live.  You  Ve  got  to  talk  a  language  that  the  other  man  will  understand.  You  Ve  got  to 
make  him  feel  that  you  are  doing  business  with  him,  not  dictating  a  form  letter  or  a 
copybook  model" 

"Sounds  incontestable,"  I  murmured. 

....  "My  college  English  all  comes  in  handy,  especially  what  we  had  about  organ- 
ization. All  I  mean  is  that  the  technique  mustn't  get  in  the  way.  You  have  to  forget  it, 
just  as  a  piano-player  has  to  forget  his  finger  exercises.  You  can't  write  good  letters  by 
rule.  All  the  principles,  hundreds  of  them,  must  have  soaked  in.  You  must  digest  your 
rules  and  assimilate  your  knowledge." 

The  following  letter  was  written  by  Professor  Lewis  to  a  humorous  column  in  the 
Chicago  Tribune,  where  slang  in  the  hands  of  a  literary  artist  is  the  prevailing  language. 
It  is  an  excellent  example  of  the  colloquial  tone  properly  used. 

Sir:  You  remark  that  John  Spargo  talked  at  Lewis  Institute  on  Socialism.  O,  no, 
dear  sir,  he  didn't.  He  talked  on  "The  Problem  of  Pure  Milk."  As  the  author  of  a  book 
on  this  subject  he  was  invited  to  address  the  women  who  are  studying  bacteriology,  and 
the  men  who  are  going  in  for  B.  S.  And  being  a  gentleman,  he  stuck  to  his  topic.  He  did 
not  utter  one  solitary  sentence  of  all  those  which  are  attributed  to  him  by  the  Evening  Post. 
He  didn't  mention  Dr.  Abbott,  or  say  that  Socialism  seeks  to  extend  private  property.  He 
talked  about  Milk,  first,  last,  and  all  the  time.  The  Post  report  belongs  in  the  same  cate- 
gory of  pleasant  fiction  as  Miss  Pants'  interview  with  Mr.  Mabie.  You  can't  even  put  it 
with  Artemus  Ward's  lecture  "On  Milk,"  for  though  Ward  said  nothing  about  milk,  he 
always  began  by  drinking  a  glass  of  it.  E.  H.  LEWIS, 

Dean  of  College  Students, 
Lewis  Institute. 

EXERCISES  IN  TONE. 

Bring  to  the  class  a  paragraph  from  a  letter  you  have  actually  written  to  your  mother, 
or  would  write  to-day  about  what  you  are  doing  if  she  were  away  from  home. 

Bring  to  the  class  a  paragraph  from  a  letter  to  a  young  lady  cousin  whom  you  know 
fairly  well,  or  a  sister,  or  to  a  lady  friend;  or  if  you  are  a  girl,  a  letter  to  a  brother  or  a 
relative  or  a  friend  you  have  known  since  childhood. 

Bring  to  the  class  a  paragraph  from  a  letter  addressed  to  the  president  of  a  college,  real 
if  possible,  or  such  a  letter  as  you  might  now  write  asking  permission  to  make  a  change 
in  a  course  of  study. 

Bring  to  the  class  a  paragraph  of  some  length  from  a  real  letter  to  a  school  chum 
describing  some  game  or  meeting  or  amusement  in  the  language  you  would  naturally  use 
in  telling  about  the  affair  face  to  face,  or  prepare  such  a  paragraph  for  the  purpose, 
observing  that  you  may  use  colloquial  language  if  necessary  to  express  yourself  simply  and 
naturally,  but  never  words  touched  with  vulgarity,  or  slangy  without  being  expressive. 

(Lesson  XXVIII,  page  4) 


LESSON   XXIX.     Review. 

Rewrite  the  following  sentences  correctly,  at  the  same  time  stating  the  principle  which 
governs  the  choice  of  form : 

I  do  not  like  that  kind  of  apples — those  kind  of  apples. 

I  can't  tolerate  that  sort  of  people — those  sort  of  people. 

He  was  the   (wealthiest — wealthier)   man  of  the  two. 

She  was  the  (younger— youngest)   of  the  three  sisters. 

He  does  his  work  very  (well — good)  ;    He  came  (previous — previously)  to  seeing  you. 

He  acted   (conformable — conformably)    with  the  rules  laid  down. 

He  came   (agreeable — agreeably)  to  his  promise;  He  could  not  have  acted  (more  nobly 
— nobler)  than  he  did. 

He  feels   (bad— badly)   about  it;  He  looked   (white— whitely). 

The  carriage  rides   (easy — easily)  ;  The  general  stood   (firm — firmly). 

He  was  a   (good-looking — good  looking)   boy;  He  was  a   (well-dressed — well  dressed) 
fellow. 

He  need  not,  (and — nor)  does  not,  lessen  his  operations  on  my  account. 

Lost  by  a  gentleman,  a  Scotch  terrier  with  his  ears  cut  close — Lost,  a  Scotch  terrier,  by 
a  gentleman,  with  his  ears  cut  close. 

I    (only  mention — mention  only)    one   of  the  charges. 

Question:   How  are  adverbs  compared? 

I  am  a  little  older  than  (he — him)  ;  He  always  acts  (like  me — like  I  do). 

He  has  made  alterations  (and  additions  to  the  work — in  the  work  and  additions  to  it). 

You  may  and  ought  to  use  stones  and  anecdotes — You  may  use  stories  and  anecdotes 
and  ought  to  do  so. 

Every  man  of  taste  and  possessing  an  elevated  mind — Every  man  of  taste  who  possesses 
an  elevated  mind. 

They  very  seldom  trouble  themselves  with  inquiries,  or  with  making  useful  observations 
— with  inquiries  or  making  useful  observations. 

He  left  a  son  of  singular  character,  who  behaved  so  ill  he  was  put  in  prison — and  who 
behaved  so  ill. 


LESSON  XXIX  (Continued).    Vices  that  Destroy  Force  in  Writing 

Force  is  destroyed  by  the — 

Vice  of  repetition  with  slight  change  or  addition; 

Vice  of  monotony  in  the  words,  sentences,  or  paragraphs : 

Vice  of  over-literalness  and  exactness; 

Vice  of  trying  to  emphasize  more  than  one  thing  at  a  time; 

Vice  of  using  many  words  with  little  meaning;  or  words  barren  of  suggestiveness  and 
destitute  of  figures  of  speech ;  and  its  opposite,  the 

Vice  of  overloading  the  style  with  so  many  figures  of  speech  and  so  much  suggestion 
and  variety  as  to  disgust  or  confuse. 

These  vices  have  been  named  tautology,  dryness,  and  "fine  writing." 

What  vice  is  particularly  illustrated  by  each  of  the  following  amusing  examples  of 
weak  writing? 

WHY  NOT  CAN  SOMETHING? 

The  canning  company  has  started  in  the  canning  business  for  the  season,  the  first 
being  canned  last  week.  Tomatoes  were  put  in  cans  first  and  sweet  corn  will  no  doubt 
be  canned  this  week. — Tri-County  Press. 

PERIPHRASIS. 

Joe  Minsky,  the  horse  buyer,  was  a  business  transactor  in  town  Wednesday. — North 
Iowa  Times. 

INTERESTING ! 

St.  Giles'  church,  built  in  the  twelfth  century,  is  the  most  interesting  church.  John 
Knox's  house  is  very  interesting.  It  extends  a  little  over  the  street  with  a  red  tiled  roof. 
We  were  greatly  interested  in  the  curious  old  windows,  and  the  very  interesting  door  with 
its  extremely  picturesque  knocker  and  interesting  old  lock. 

A   SENTIMENTAL  JOURNEY. 

It  was  almost  a  day's  ride  from  London  to  Edinburgh.  On  the  way  I  saw  old  castles, 
but  the  most  interesting  feature  was  an  old  water  mill  with  a  large  wheel,  turned  by  water 
(1).  Such  as  we  read  of  in  English  stories  (2).  The  wheel  was  turning  as  we  passed  (3). 
When  we  arrived  in  Edinburgh  (4),  we  were  taken  to  the  Cockburn  hotel,  a  house  builded 
(5)  with  towers  on  the  corners,  all  of  stone.  Edinburgh  is  known  as  (6)  "Modern  Athens." 
It  is  the  seat  of  a  famous  university,  founded  in  1582.  However,  the  Glasgow  university  is 
more  famous  now  (7),  it  is  located  near  the  Firth  of  Clyde. 

We  visited  the  Holyrood  palace  builded  (8)  1670.  This  contains  a  chapel,  Queen  Mary's 
bedrooms  (9),  just  as  they  were  years  ago,  above  which  is  (10)  Lord  Darnley's  apart- 
ments (11),  the  tapestry  and  bed  coverings  are  decaying  and  moldering  away.  We  saw 
the  bath  house  (12)  of  Queen  Mary  out  in  one  corner  of  the  court  yard  (13).  A  dagger 
is  shown  in  the  apartments  that  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  one  used  to  kill  Lord  Darnley, 
Mary's  husband.  This  dagger  was  found  in  the  bath  house. 

Each  glaring  error  of  style,  grammar,  .or  punctuation  is  marked  by  a  number.  Indicate 
clearly  what  each  error  is. 

(OVER) 


THERE ! 
[From  the  Bangor  News.] 

State  versus  Willis  Thompkins  for  conveying  hack  saw  into  jail  with  intent  that  one 
Joseph  Pearson,  a  prisoner  therein,  lawfully  detained,  should  by  means  thereof  escape 
therefrom. 

We  cannot  "expect"  (look  forward  to)  that  which  has  already  happened.  We  may 
perhaps  "expect  to  find  that  such  and  such  is  true,"  but  to  condense  this  into  "I  expect 
you  liked  the  play  first  rate"  makes  very  poor  English.  When  one  gets  the  habit  of  an 
expression  like  this  and  uses  it  over  and  over  it  becomes  particularly  objectionable. 

GREAT  EXPECTATIONS. 
[From  Elinor  Glyn's  "The  Reason  Why."] 

"It  is  all  story  book  stuff — that  almighty  passion,  I  expect."     P.  7. 

"You  understand  something  of  life,  I  expect."     P.  13. 

"Remember,  it  is  a  false  sentiment."     "O,  I  expect  so."     P.  42. 

"I  expect  Zara  would  like  it  better  if  you  did  not  meet  until  after  then."     P.  44. 

"I  expect  you  don't,  but  I  do."     P.  66. 

"Bit  of  Vesuvius  underneath,  I  expect."     P.  182. 

"She  looks  stormy — expect  it's  pretty  well  worth  while,  though,  when  she  melts."    P.  182. 

"I  expect  Tristram's  pulled  the  curb."     P.  183. 

"I  expect  she  would  not  let  them  put  her  off."     P.  183. 

"I  should  feel  sorry  for  the  poor  birds,  I  expect."     P.  245. 

"Rather  an  ordeal,  I  expect."     P.  249. 

WONDERFUL ! 
[From   Ty  Cobb's  Account  of  the  Game.] 

"Marquard  pitching  wonderful  ball." 

"The  two  wonderful  batsmen  of  the  Athletics." 

"A  truly  wonderful  pitcher." 

"Snodgrass'  wonderful  throw  to  second." 

"The  Giants  had  that  wonderful  requisite." 

"Another  such  wonderful  game." 


(Lesson  XXIX,  page  4) 


LESSON    XXX.     Review    of    Punctuation. 

Rewrite  the  following  with  the  proper  capitals: 

the  south,  the  west,  the  east,  the  orient,  the  president  and  congress,  the  constitution  of 
the  united  states,  the  constitution  of  the  state  cf  Louisiana. 

We  will  refer  the  matter  to  our  corset  department. 

The  english  report  an  increase  in  the  exports  of  the  united  kingdom. 

Send  the  goods  c.  o.  d., ;  I  will  go  d.  v. ;  Make  the  bill  read  e.  &  o.  e. 

He  said,  "this  man  owes  me  money  and  I  will  kill  him" ;  He  said  that  this  man  owed 
him  money  and  he  would  kill  him ;  He  said  this  man  owed  him  money  and  he  would  "wring 
his  neck  till  he  was  dead"  before  he  would  let  him  go. 

It  is  a  wise  man  who  always  follows  the  rule,  never  spend  a  dollar  before  you  have  it  to 
spend. 

Properly  punctuate  and  capitalize  the  following :    ms,  e  g,  feb,  assn,  bldg. 

Do  the  relative  clauses  in  the  following  require  to  be  set  off  by  commas?  Give  your 
reason : 

Did  you  see  Jenny  Jones  who  was  wearing  a  picture  hat?  Did  you  see  the  man  who 
knocked  that  woman  down? 

Why  is  a  comma  required  or  not  required  in  the  following? — 

When  I  get  there  I  shall  see  what  I  can  do;  When  I  have  told  you  again  and  again 
that  I  will  not  tolerate  such  conduct  why  do  you  go  on  doing  these  things? 

In  what  cases  is  a  comma  required  before  "and"?  Correctly  punctuate  the  following:  I 
told  him  I  did  n't  like  the  way  he  was  going  on,  and  then  I  explained  to  him  just  what  the 
effect  of  his  conduct  would  be  on  the  other  employees. 

In  what  cases  should  "but"  be  preceded  by  a  comma  and  when  by  a  semi-colon?  Punctu- 
ate the  following  correctly : 

1.  John  came  over  and  talked  to  me  for  a  long  time  but  I  could  n't  see  my  way  to 
granting  his  request. 

2.  We  have  fought  hard  and  won  but  for  all  that  I  am  willing  to  yield  if  it  is  for  the 
good  of  the  party. 

Why  is  a  hyphen  required  in  the  following— Good-looking,  man-eating,  letter-writing ;  but 
not  in  these — Finely  built,  business  letter  writing,  short  story  writing,  well  intentioned? 


LESSON  XXX   (Continued).     Miscellaneous  Exercises  in  Criticism. 

Study  carefully  "General  Faults,"  Dictionary  of  Errors,  pp.  91-95,  or  How"  to  Do 
Business  by  Letter,  pp.  155-157. 

Read  carefully  the  section  "Half-baked  Criticism  of  English,"  Dictionary  of  Errors, 
pages  86,  87. 

We  study  criticism  merely  that  we  may  improve  ourselves.  It  is  easier  to  see 
the  faults  in  others  than  in  ourselves.  We  may  study  the  faults  of  others  that  we  may 
see  our  own  more  clearly;  but  we  should  be  extremely  chary  of  letting  any  one  know 
what  faults  we  find  in  others.  Our  own  pride  may  be  depended  on  to  make  us  keep 
to  ourselves  the  faults  we  find  in  our  own  work.  We  cannot  become  too  competent  in 
self-criticism;  but  the  chances  are  that  in  criticising  others  we  fail  to  understand  clearly 
what  they  meant  to  say,  and  only  in  the  case  of  our  own  writing  can  we  be  sure  precisely 
what  was  meant. 

As  an  exercise  that  will  help  us  to  criticise  ourselves  more  effectively,  let  us 
examine  carefully  and  rewrite  the  following: 

[From   an    advertisement.] 

It  is  a  unique  perfume,  which  at  each  gesture  throws  off  an  atmosphere  of  trouble 
and  adoration!  (1)  It  is  a  perfume  which  gives  to  she  (2)  who  uses  it  such  irresistible 
charm  that  one  cannot  separate  the  suavity  (3)  of  the  aroma  from  the  seduction  of 
the  woman.  It  is  a  perfume  that  one  cannot  forget,  which  follows  one  like  an  obsession 
of  love,  a  perfume  which  makes  one  relive  the  happy  hours  and  falls  upon  the  heart  like 
an  adorable  dew,  the  perfumed  drops  of  memory  (4). 

1.  What  possible  connection  can  "trouble  and  adoration"  have  with  each  other  or 
with  a  perfume?  2.  What  is  the  matter  with  the  grammar  of  "to  she"?  What  is  really 
the  subject  of  "uses"?  3.  Can  you  conceive  what  "suavity  of  the  aroma"  means? 
4.  Mixed  metaphors  are  implied  comparisons  with  objects  that  do  not  precisely  harmonize: 
do  you  find  any  in  this  passage? 

Rewrite  this  so  as  to  make  a  really  alluring  advertisement,  yet  one  that  makes  sense 
and  has  some  chance  of  producing  an  effect  on  a  real  person.  Talk  like  this  is  so  ovredone 
it  fails  wholly  to  convince. 

[From  the  Star.] 

Such  a  mustering  of  beautiful  women  and  brave  men,  such  enchanting  groups  of 
slim,  satin  clad  (5)  figures,  such  visions  of  radiant  girlhood  and  sweetly  ripened  woman- 
hood were  never  seen  in  a  ballroom  before.  Fully  600  (6)  pairs  of  feet  of  varying  sizes 
danced  gayly  over  the  polished  floor  (7)  and  the  tiers  of  seats  that  rose  arena-like  about 
the  gleaming  rectangle  (8)  were  crowded  with  richly  dressed  spectators  throughout  the 
evening. 

5.  Do  you  need  a  hyphen  between  "satin"  and  "clad"?  6.  What  is  the  rule  for 
writing  figures  in  the  body  of  an  article?  7.  What  punctuation  is  required  here?  8.  What 
kind  of  language  is  "gleaming  rectangle"? 

Rewrite  this  so  it  will  be  convincingly  attractive,  but  leave  out  the  well-worn  old 
phrases  of  which  we  are  all  so  weary. 

"Many  of  these  evening  scarfs,"  says  the  ad,  "are  lined  with  contrasting  colors  which 
makes  them  a  real  protection  against  a  sudden  change  in  temperature."  (9) 

9.    Which  colors  do  you  think  would  make  the  warmest  lining  when  placed  in  contrast? 


TREPANNED,  WE  INFER. 

[From  the   School  Agency.] 

The  principals  (10)  upon  which  we  operate  make  all  of  our  patrons  our  friends. 

10.  What  is  the  correct  form  of  the  word  intended  here? 

[From  an  Open  Letter  by  a  Candidate  for  Mayor.] 

I've  somewhat  outlined  my  course  of  procedure;  I  will  hew  (11)  to  that  line  of 
thought.  I  expect  to  encounter  snags,  swails,  and  cesspools  (12)  in  the  discharge  of  duties. 
I  will  attempt  to  cross  (13)  them  the  best  I  can.  I  will  bridge  over  them  with 
pillars  (14)  that  seem  to  be  safe  and  cost  the  least,  and  I  will  plank  the  way  with  you 
and  compel  you  to  assist  in  reaching  the  opposite  shore  in  safety  (15). 

11.  Is  the  metaphor  suggested  in  "hew"  a  good  one?     12.     Do  you  think  so  nasty- 
smelling  a  thing  as  a  cesspool  makes  a  good   figure  of   speech?     Is   it  harmonious   with 
"snags  and  swails"?     13.     Does  one  "cross"  "cesspools"?     14.  Are  "pillars"  used  in  build- 
ing bridges?     15.    What  other  mixed  comparisons  do  you  find  here? 

THE  KIND  OF  SLANG  THAT  EXPRESSES  NOTHING. 
Overheard  on  a  North  State  street  car : 
"Bad  night." 

"You  bet;  nasty  weather." 
"You  bet;  need  it  though." 
"You  bet;  might  be  worse."      [Gets  off.] 
"Good  night." 

WHAT  KIND  OF  WRITING  IS  THIS? 
"He  is  not  alone,"  warbles  the  Lauralei. 

"A  girl  much  fairer  than  herself  (16)  rests  in  his  clasping  arms  as  they  float  thither 
and  yon  to  the  mad  merry  dance  music." 

16.  This  extract  is  taken  out  of  its  connection.    What  does  "herself"  probably  refer  to? 

IN   THAT  VICINITY. 

Patrolman  Jenkins  ordered  him  to  drop  the  knife,  but  he  failed  to  obey,  and,  in 
consequence,  was  shot  in  the  west  end  or  thereabouts  (17). — Country  Paper. 

17.  What  is  the  matter  with  this? 

A  PERFECTLY  GOOD  MULE. 

Some  time  during  the  night  the  mule  caught  its  head  in  the  wire  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  cause  its  death.  The  next  morning  Mr.  Bowling  found  the  mule  hanging  perfectly 
dead  (18). — Carrollton  Democrat. 

18.  What  is  the  difference  between  dead  and  "perfectly  dead"? 

$1.00  to  farmer  boy  15  years  old  for  best  information  how  to  learn  a  calf  to  drink 
milk  (19).— Sentinel-Leader. 

19.  Correct  three  faults  in  this. 

MUST  HAVE  TAKEN  HER  NAME. 

Miss  Edna  Wohlgemuth  was  married  on  Tuesday  of  last  'week  to  a  young  gentleman 
from  Oregon,  the  wedding  taking  place  at  the  home  of  the  bride's  parents,  the  Rev.  Smith 
of  the  Congregational  church  performing  the  ceremony  (20). — Register. 

20.  Be  exceedingly  careful  you  do  not  leave  out  the  most  important  thing  in  what 
you  have  to  say.     Is  "Rev.  Smith"  wrong? 

DON'T  COIN  WORDS. 

"I  office  (21)  with  two  other  lawyers,"  writes  a  young  man;  but  where  does  he  house 
and  bedroom? 

21.  Making  verbs  out  of  nouns  is  always  objectionable.     It  inevitably  leads  to  con- 
fusion. 

(Lesson  XXX,  page  4) 


LESSON  XXXI.    Clauses  and  Phrases. 

In  the  following,  underscore  the  phrases  and  enclose  the  clauses,  including  parts  of 
compound  sentences,  in  parenthesis.  Observe  that  explanatory  phrases  and  clauses  set  off  by 
commas  may  be  omitted  and  still  leave  complete  sense.  Rewrite,  omitting  all  explanatory 
clauses,  phrases,  and  words. — 

It  would  be  tedious,  perhaps,  to  my  wiser  readers,  who  may  not  have  that 
foolish  fondness  for  odd  and  obsolete  things  to  which  I  am  given,  were  I  to  mention  the 
other  make-shifts  of  this  worthy  old  humorist,  by  which  he  was  endeavoring  to  follow  up, 
though  at  a  humble  distance,  the  quaint  customs  of  antiquity.  I  was  pleased,  however,  to  see 
the  respect  shown  to  his  whims  by  his  children  and  relatives,  who,  indeed,  entered  readily 
into  the  full  spirit  of  them,  and  seemed  all  well  versed  in  their-  parts,  having  doubtless  been 
present  at  many  a  rehearsal.  I  was  amused,  too,  at  the  air  of  profound  gravity  with  which 
the  butler  and  other  servants  executed  the  duties  assigned  them,  however  eccentric.  They 
had  an  old-fashioned  look,  having,  for  the  most  part,  been  brought  up  in  the  household,  and 
grown  into  keeping  with  the  antiquated  mansion  and  the  humors  of  its  lord,  and  most  prob- 
ably looked  upon  all  his  whimsical  regulations  as  the  established  laws  of  honorable  house- 
keeping. 

Questions :  Is  it  strictly  true  that  every  sentence  begins  with  a  capital  letter  and  ends 
with  a  period?  With  what  other  marks  may  a  sentence  end?  Why  are  "perhaps",  "how- 
ever", "indeed",  and  "too"  set  off  by  commas  in  the  selection  above?  Why  are  the  phrases 
"though  at  a  humble  distance",  "having  doubtless  been  present  at  many  a  rehearsal",  and 
"for  the  most  part"  set  off  by  commas?  In  how  many  places  in  this  selection  do  you  find 
"and"  preceded  by  a  comma?  Could  you  place  a  period  in  position  of  the  comma  in  each 
of  these  cases  and  still  feel  that  what  went  before  made  complete  sense  in  itself?  In  what 
case  should  the  second  part  of  a  compound  sentence  introduced  by  "and"  not  be  preceded 
by  a  comma?  Give  an  illustration  of  such  a  case.  Examine  each  participle  and  tell  what  it 
modifies  or  how  it  is  used.  Examine  each  verb  and  tell  whether  it  is  complete  or  has  some 
word  implied  before  it.  What  is  the  main  subject  and  main  verb  of  each  sentence  above? 
Show  how  each  subordinate  sentence  is  related  to  the  principal  sentence  in  which  it  stands? 
Every  clause  and  every  phrase  taken  as  a  whole  may  be  looked  on  as  an  adjective,  an  adverb, 
or  a  noun :  Tell  what  part  of  speech  each  clause  and  each  phrase  is  in  the  passage  above,  and 
what  it  modifies. 


LESSON  XXXI  (Continued).  .  Miscdlajieous.Ejcepcises. ,    , 

THE  MAN  WITH  THE  IRON' TOES.'' 

George  Fitch,  editor  of  The  Herald  Transcript,  and  the  well  known  "Transcript"  man, 
had  the  misfortune  yesterday  to  drop  a  heavy  plank  upon  one  of  his  toes,  breaking  it  (22) 
in  two  places. 

22.  Was  "it"  the  plank?     How  would  you  express  the  real  meaning? 

State  Board  of  Prison  Industries— Springfield : 

Gentlemen : 

Please  order  the  furniture  plant  at  the  Joliet  Prison  to  manufacture  for  this  institu- 
tion six  small  tables  like  women  use  who  sew  with  folding  legs  (23).  Yours  truly, 

ILLINOIS  SCHOOL  FOR  THE  DEAF. 

23.  Whose  legs  were  they?     Rearrange  this  so  as  to  avoid  an  incorrect  suggestion. 

DID   HE   SEEM   INTERESTED? 

[From  the   Evanston   News.] 

The  engagement  of  Miss  Margaret  Roesing,  daughter  of  Mr.  B.  Roesing,  2711  Harrison 
street,  has  been  announced  to  (24)  Arthur  Croxson. 

24.  Arrange  this  so  the  meaning  will  be  clear.   Observe  Chat  in  English  the  position 
of  words  in  a  sentence  is  far  more  important  than  it  is  in  any  inflected  language  like  French, 
German,  or  Latin. 

[Received   from  a  Carbondale  man.] 

"dear  sir — will  you  please  Give  me  your  price  of  ships  feed  per  ton.  in  Cars  at 
Carbondale.  i  farm  a  little  and  want  this  to  feed  myself.  Yours  trulys."  (25) 

25.  How  many  mistakes  are  there  in  this  letter?     Correct  them  all.     Which  mistake 
is  the  worst? 

WHAT  DOES  HE  MEAN? 

[From  the   Daily   News.] 

I  will  not  be  responsible  for  any  debts  contracted  by  any  one  but  (26)  those  that 
I  make.  Alex  Paul  Gandt. 

26.  What  part  of  speech  is  "but"  here?     What  other  word  might  have  been  used? 
How  many  mistakes  are  there  in  all? 

AVOID  TAUTOLOGY. 

"The  community,"  says  the  valued  Post,  "must  follow  up  the  present  outrage  to  its 
very  ultimate  end."  (27)  But  it  should  not  pause  there;  it  should  go  on  to  the  final 
conclusion. 

27.  Would   "to  the  very   end"   be  wrong?     Would   "ultimate   conclusion"   be   wrong? 
What  is  objectionable  about  "ultimate  end"  and   "final  conclusion"? 

THE  VICE  OF  FINE  WRITING. 

One  of  the  most  detestable  vices  in  writing  is  that  of  trying  to  use  words  you  do 
not  understand  and  express  ideas  that  are  beyond  your  powers  of  language.  The  only 
safe  way  is  to  feel  your  feet  on  the  ground  all  the  time. 

[From  the  Independent.] 

A  true  knight  of  King  Arthur  he  looked,  the  young  groom  in  his  strong,  eager  man- 
hood; while  the  fair  girl  at  his  side  in  her  daintily  simple  white  gown,  holding  a  shower 
bouquet  of  lilies  of  the  valley,  was  easily  the  fairest  blossom  among  all  the  greenhouse  (28) 
treasures 

28.  This   is   an    example  not   only   of   fine   writing,   but    of  mixed    tones— "greenhouse 
treasures"  is  a  drop. 

Put  the   following  into  business-like,   plain   English: 

(OVER) 


MOST  OF  THIS< 

Julf  Husman,  who  has  been'  busy  for  the  past  several  months  building  a  fine  new 
house  and  barn,  celebrated  their  completion  with  a  barn  dance  Wednesday  night.  "The 
beauty  and  chivalry"  of  Wayne  and  adjoining  townships  attended  and  "did  chase  the 
glowing  hours  with  flying  feet,"  with  as  much  enthusiasm  and  pleasure  as  did  the  guests 
"When  Belgium's  capital  had  gathered  then  and  bright  the  lamps  shone  over  fair  women 
and  brave  men." — Monticello  Times. 

AS  IT  WERE. 

She  gave  an  exuberant  reading  on  "Easter"  and  rendered  a  very  pretty  piano  solo  of 
metamorphose.  She  captivated  her  listeners  in  her  renditions  with  exciting  wonder. 
Ecomiastic  remarks  were  given  and  the  club  movement  was  highly  indorsed  by  the  visitors. 

A  LITTLE  DESCRIPTION  OF  A  MUSICAL  EVENT. 

The  rising  of  the  curtain  of  1911  upon  the  initial  appearance  of  the  world  famous 
Flonzaley  string  quartet  offers  a  gift  transcendent  from  the  hand  of  the  Muse,  and  writes 
in  letters  golden  the  date  of  January  9,  a  musical  "All  Saints  day."  The  tireless  devotees 
of  the  Mozart  club,  in  their  bestowal  of  a  benediction  so  superlative,  more  deeply  still, 
lay  tribute  upon  the  art  world,  as  their  grateful  debtor.  The  audience  room  of  the  Unitarian 
church,  so  fortuitous  in  acoustic  responsiveness,  will  long  seem  a  shrine  for  memories 
haunted  by  the  "souls  of  strings"  quivering  into  melodies  and  harmonies.  History,  with 
a  gold  embroidery  of  aristocratic  traditions,  decorates  chamber  music  as  the  priestess  of 
the  art,  embodying  reverently  the  consecrated  forms  of  the  classic,  and  keeping  its  altar 
fires  ever  burning  in  worship  of  the  eternal  truth  and  mystery  of  beauty.  To  a  rigid  and 
high  schooling  in  the  classics,  surmounting  the  complete  technique  of  virtuosi,  the  Flon- 
zaley quartet  brings  all  the  many  hued  emotionalism  of  the  Latin  race,  and  an  atmosphere 
of  poetry,  exhaling  through  all,  the  sensitive  abandon,  restrained  passion,  and  noble  vision 
of  their  interpretations. 

FROM  A  SPEECH  BY  THE  MAYOR  OF  — . 

It  is  an  eminent  satisfaction  to  realize  that  our  men  and  women  have  got  far  enough 
along  to  keenly  enjoy*  a  real  delight  in  rambling  through  the  jungles  of  human  conceptions 
assembled  and  tendered  to  the  public  through  the  medium  of  the  modern  chautauqua.  This 
instinct  to  penetrate  the  mysteries  of  the  unknown  is  probably  the  divine  afflatus  that  lifts 
the  intellectual  lifting  machine  which  carries  humanity  above  the  squalor  and  grime  of 
brutality,  up  to  the  mountain  peaks  of  mercy,  altruism  and  justice.  Ideas  are  invisible 
blessings  craving  protection,  preservation  and  shelter  in  the  belfry  of  the  temple  of  the 
soul.  Lecturers  are  specialists  in  the  realm  of  ideas.  They  are  expert  in  stringing  them 
into  pleasing  galaxies  of  thought.  They  frame  up  graceful  and  bewitching  disquisitions 
supporting  the  tenet  they  would  teach  and  with  diplomatic  system  support  the  central 
ideas  with  charming  clusters  of  corroborrative  sentiment  until  their  proposition  becomes 
amazingly  irresistible.  And  then  with  trained  thorax  they  send  their  admonitions  in  poetic 
prose  with  lucid  explanations  on  waves  of  silvery  sound  to  the  eager  ear  of  their  audience, 
from  whence  they  carom  to  the  brain,  in  their  quest  for  rootage  and  a  chance  to  pullulate 
and  grow.  The  mind  finds  opportunity  in  this  necessitious  diversion,  to  stretch  out  and 
grab  off  something  good  to  feed  upon.  The  Lincoln  Chautauqua  is  on  deck  with  its 
banquet  of  brain  food.  It  is  here  with  the  goods.  Its  canvas  pavillion  now  shelters  us, 
and  its  hampers  of  noodle  nourishment  are  ready  to  be  opened  and  served.  The  torrent 
of  thought  is  ready  to  be  turned  on,  and  the  hopper  of  Abingdon's  intellectuality  has  been 
primed  for  the  reception  of  the  psychological  inundation. 

Look  up  in  the  dictionary  all  doubtful  words.  Many  are  misspelled  or  misused. 


*  A  void,  If  possible,  "splitting"  an  infinitive  by  Inserting  an  adverb  between  the  to  and  the  verb. 

(Lesson  XXXI,  page  4) 


OCT20J956 


LD  21-100m-7,'33 


YC  01473 


U.C.BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


308410 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


